. 


E 

423 


r 


BANCROFT    LIBRARY 


ME.  WEBSTER  visited  New  York,  in  company  with  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  and  several  Members  of  the  Cabinet,  to  join  in  celebrating  the  completion 
of  the  NEW  YORK  AND  ERIE  RAIL,  ROAD.  The  distinguished  party  were  received 
along  the  entire  route  with  the  most  enthusiastic  demonstrations  of  respect  ;  and 
were  called  upon  everywhere  to  address  the  assembled  multitudes.  At  Buffalo, 
the  citizens  united,  without  distinction  of  party,  in  tendering  a  public  Dinner  to 
Mr.  Webster,  also  inviting  him  to  address  the  masses  in  the  Park.  Similar  invi 
tations  were  extended  to  him  by  the  people  of  Rochester,  Syracuse,  Albany,  and 
every  other  city  through  which  he  passed. 

As  the  Speeches  delivered  on  these  occasions  were  but  partially  and  imperfectly 
reported,  Mr.  Webster,  in  compliance  with  the  wishes  of  his  friends,  has  corrected 
the  Speeches  embraced  in  the  following  pages  ;  and  they  are  now  entitled  to  public 
confidence,  and  commended  to  a  careful  perusal,  as  containing  the  deliberate  senti 
ments,  familiarly  expressed,  of  the  GREAT  EXPOUNDER  AND  DEFENDER  OF  THE 
CONSTITUTION. 


MIRROR  OFFICE,  New  York,  June  9th,  1851 


8 

Gentlemen,  believe  me,  I  know  where  I  am.  I  know  to  whom  I  am 
speaking.  I  know  for  whom  I  am  speaking.  I  know  I  am  here  in  this 
singularly  prosperous  and  powerful  section  of  the  United  States,  Western 
New  York,  and  I  know  the  character  of  the  men  who  constitute  Western 
New  York.  I  know  they  are  sons  of  liberty,  one  and  all ;  that  they  suck 
ed  in  liberty  with  their  mothers'  milk  ;  inherited  it  with  their  blood  ;  that 
it  is  the  subject  of  their  daily  Contemplation  and  watchful  thought.  They 
are  men  of  a  very  singular  equality  of  condition,  for  a  million  and  a  half  of 
people.  There  are  thousands  of  men  around  us,  and  here  before  us,  who 
till  their  own  soils  with  their  own  hands  ;  and  others  who  earn  their  own 
livelihood  by  their  own  labor  in  the  workshops,  and  other  places  of  indus 
try  ;  and  they  are  independent,  in  principle  and  in  condition,  having  nei 
ther  slaves  nor  masters,  and  not  intending  to  have  either.  These  are  the  men 
who  constitute,  to  a  great  extent,  the  people  of  Western  New  York.  But 
the  school-houses  I  know  are  among  them.  Education  is  among  them. 
They  read,  and  write,  and  think.  And  here  are  women,  educated, 
refined,  and  intelligent ;  and  here  are  men  who  know  the  history  of  their 
country,  and  the  laws  of  their  country,  and  the  institutions  of  their  country  ; 
and  men,  lovers  of  liberty  always,  and  yet  lovers  of  liberty  under 
the  Constitution  of  the  country,  and  who  mean  to  maintain  that  Constitution 
with  all  their  strength,  so  help  them  God.  (Great  applause.)  I  hope 
these  observations  will  satisfy  you  that  I  know  where  I  am,  under  what  re 
sponsibility  I  speak,  and  before  whom  I  appear ;  and  I  have  no  desire  that 
any  word  I  shall  say  this  day,  shall  be  withholden  from  you,  or  your  chil 
dren,  or  your  neighbors,  or  the  whole  world  ;  for  I  speak  before  you 
and  before  my  country,  and,  If  it  be  not  too  solemn  to  say  so,  before  the 
great  Author  of  all  things. 

Gentlemen,  there  is  but  one  question  in  this  country  now  ;  or  if  there 
be  others,  the  others  are  but  secondary,  or  so  subordinate,  that  they  are  all 
absorbed  in  that  great  and  leading  question  ;  and  that  is  neither  more  nor 
less  than  this :  Can  we  preserve  the  union  of  the  States,  not  by  coercion, 
not  by  military  power,  not  by  angry  controversies  ;  but  can  we  of  this  ge 
neration,  you  and  I,  your  friends  and  my  friends,  can  we  so  preserve  the 
union  of  these  States,  by  such  administration  of  the  powers  of  the  Con 
stitution,  as  shall  give  content  and  satisfaction  to  all  who  live  under  it,  and 
draw  us  together,  not  by  military  power,  but  by  the  siJken  cords  of  mutual, 
fraternal,  patriotic  affection  ?  That  is  the  question,  and  no  other.  Gen 
tlemen,  I  bslieve  in  party  distinctions.  I  am  a  party  man.  There  are 
questions  belonging  to  party,  in  which  I  am  concerned,  and  there  are  opi 
nions  entertained  by  other  parties,  which  I  repudiate  ;  but- what  of  all  that  ? 
If  a  house  be  divided  against  itself,  it  will  fall,  and  crush  everybody  in  it. 
We  must  see  that  we  maintain  the  government  which  is  over  us.  We 
must  see  that  we  uphold  the  Constitution,  and  we  must  do  so  without  re 
gard  to  party.  Now,  how  did  this  question  arise  ?  The  question  is  for 
ever  mis-stated.  I  dare  say  if  you  know  much  of  me,  or  of  my  course  of  pub 
lic  conduct,  for  the  last  fourteen  months,  you  have  heard  of  my  attend 
ing  Union  meetings,  and  of  my  fervent  admonitions  at  Union  meetings.  Well, 
what  was  the  object  of  those  meetings  ?  What  was  their  purpose  ?  The 
object  and  purpose  have  been  designedly  or  thoughtlessly  misrepresented. 
I  had  an  invitation  to  attend  a  Union  meeting  in  the  county  of  Westchester ;  I 
could  not  go,  but  wrote  a  letter.  Well,  some  wise  man  of  the  east  said  he  did 


not  think  it  was  very  necessary  to  hold  Union  meetings  in  Westchester.  He 
did  not  think  there  were  many  disunionists  about  Tarry  town!  And  so  in  many 
parts  of  New  York,  there  is  a  total  misapprehension  of  the  purpose  and  object 
of  these  Union  meetings.  Every  one  knows,  there  is  not  a  county,  or  a  city 
or  a  hamlet  in  the  State  of  New  York,  that  is  ready  to  go  out  of  the  Union' 
except  some  small  bodies  of  fanatics.  There  is  no  man  so  insane  in  the 
whole  State,  outside  a  lunatic  asylum,  as  to  wish  it.  But  that  is  not  the 
point.  We  all  know  that  every  man  and  every  neighborhood,  and  all  cor 
porations,  in  the  State  of  New  York  are  attached  to  the  Union,  and  have  no 
idea  of  withdrawing  from  it,  except  those  I  have  mentioned.  But  that  is 
not,  I  repeat,  the  point ;  that  is  not  the  point.  The  question,  fellow-citi 
zens,  (and  I  put  it  to  you  now  as  the  real  question,)  the  question  is,  Whe 
ther  you  and  the  rest  of  the  people  of  the  great  State  of  New  York,  and  of 
all  the  States,  will  so  adhere  to  the  Constitution,  will  so  enact  and  main 
tain  laws  to  preserve  that  instrument,  that  you  will  not  only  remain  in  the 
Union  yourselves,  but  permit  your  brethren  to  remain  in  it,  and  help  to 
perpetuate  it  ?  That  is  the  question.  Will  you  concur  in  measures  neces 
sary  to  maintain  the  Union  ?  or  will  you  oppose  such  measures  ?  That  is 
the  whole  point  of  the  case. 

You  have  thirty  or  forty  members  of  Congress  from  New  York  ;  you  have 
your  proportion  in  the  United  States  Senate.     We  have  many  members  of 
Congress  from  New  England.     Will  they  maintain  the  laws  that  are  pass 
ed  for  the  administration  of  the  Constitution,  and  respect  the  rights  of  the 
South,  so  that  the  Union  may  be  held  together  ;  and  not  only  that  we  may 
not  go  out  of  it  ourselves,  which  we  are  not  inclined  to  do,  but  that  by 
asserting  and  maintaining  the  rights  of  others,  they  may  also  remain  in 
the  Union  ?     Now,  gentlemen,  permit  me  to  say,  that  I  speak  of  no  con 
cessions.     If  the  South  wish  any  concession  from  me,  they  will  not  get  it ; 
not  a  nair's  breadth  of  it.     If  they  come  to  my  house  for  it,  they  will  not 
find  it,  and  the  door  will  be  shut :  I  concede  nothing.     But  I  say  that  I 
will  maintain  for  them,  as  I  will  maintain  for  you,  to   the  utmost   of  my 
power,  and  in  the  face  of  all  danger,  their  rights  under  the   Constitution, 
and  your  rights  under  the  Constitution.     (Cries  of  "  Good,  Good,"  &c.) 
And  I  shall  never  be  found  to  falter  in  one  or  the  other.     (Tremendous 
applause.)     It  is  obvious  to  every  one,  and  we  all  know  it,  that  the  origin . 
of  the  great  disturbance  which  agitates  the  country,   is   the  existence   of  " 
slavery  in  some  of  the  States  ;  but  we  must  meet  that  subject ;  we  must 
consider  it ;  we  must  deal  with  it,  earnestly,  honestly,  and  justly.     From 
the  mouth  of  the  St.  Johns  to  the  confines  of  Florida,  there  existed  in  the 
year  of  grace,  seventeen  hundred  and   seventy-five,   thirteen  colonies  of  ' 
English  origin,  planted  at  different  times,  and  coming  from  different  parts  . 
of  England,  bringing  with  them  various  habits,  and  establishing,  each  for 
itself,  institutions  entirely  different  from  the  institutions  which  they  left,  and 
in  many  cases  from  each  other.     But    they  were    all   of  English^ origin. 
The  English  language  was  theirs  ;  Shakspeare  and  Milton  were  theirs,  and 
the  Chrfstian  religion  was  theirs;  and  these  things   held   them   together 
by  the  force  of  a  common  character.    The  aggressions  of  the  parent  State 
compelled  them  to  set  up  for  independence.    They  declared  indbpendenoe, 
and  that  immortal  act,  pronounced  on  the  fourth  of  July,   seventeen  hun 
dred  and  seventy-six,  made  them  independent.     That  was  an  act  of  union 
by  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled.     But  this  act  of  itsj 


r 


10 

nothing  to  establish  over  them  a  general  government.  They  had  a  Con 
gress.  They  had  articles  of  confederation  to  prosecute  the  war.  But 
thus  far  they  were  still,  essentially,  separate  and  independent,  each  of 
the  other.  They  had  entered  into  a  simple  confederacy,  and  nothing 
more.  No  State  was  bound  by  what  it  did  not  itself  agree  to,  or  what 
was  done  according  to  the  provisions  of  the  Confederation.  That  was 
the  state  of  things,  gentlemen,  at  that  time.  The  war  went  on  ;  victory 
perched  on  the  American  eagle  ;  our  independence  was  acknowledged. 
The  States  were  then  united  together  under  a  confederacy  of  very  limited 
powers.  It  could  levy  no  taxes.  It  could  not  enforce  its  own  decrees. 
It  was  a  confederacy,  instead  of  a  united  government.  Experience 
showed  that  this  was  insufficient  and  inefficient.  And,  therefore,  beginning 
as  far  back  almost  as  the  close  of  the  war,  measures  were  taken  for  the  for 
mation  of  a  united  government,  a  government  in  the  strict  sense  of  the 
term,  a  government  that  could  pass  laws  binding  on  the  citizens  of  all  the 
States,  and  which  could  enforce  those  laws  by  its  executive  powers,  having 
them  interpreted  by  a  judicial  power  belonging  to  the  Government  itself, 
and  yet,  a  Government  of  strictly  limited  powers.  "Well,  gentlemen,  this 
led  to  the  formation  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  that  in 
strument  was  framed  on  the  idea  of  a  limited  Government.  It  proposed  to 
leave,  and  did  leave,  the  different  domestic  institutions  of  the  several  States 
to  themselves.  It  did  not  propose  consolidation.  It  did  not  propose  that 
the  laws  of  Virginia  should  be  the  laws  of  New  York,  or  that  the  laws  of 
New  York  should  be  the  laws  of  Massachusetts.  It  proposed  only  that, 
for  certain  purposes,  and  to  a  certain  extent,  there  should  be  a  united 
Government,  and  that  that  Government  should  have  the  power  of  exe 
cuting  its  own  laws.  All  the  rest  was  left  to  the  several  States.  And  we 
now  come,  gentlemen,  to  the  very  point  of  the  case.  At  thit  time  sla 
very  existed  in  the  Southern  States,  entailed  upon  them  in  the  time  of  the 
supremacy  of  British  laws  over  us.  There  it  was.  It  was  obnoxious 
to  the  Middle  and  Eastern  States,  and  honestly  and  seriously  disliked, 
as  the  records  of  the  country  will  show,  by  the  Southern  States  them 
selves.  Now,  how  were  they  to  deal  with  it  ?  Were  the  Northern 
and  Middle  States  to  exclude  from  the  Government  those  States  of  the 
South  which  had  produced  a  Washington,  a  Laurens,  and  other  distin 
guished  patriots,  who  had  so  truly  served,  and  so  greatly  honored,  the 
whole  country  ?  Were  they  to  be  excluded  from  the  new  Government 
because  they  tolerated  the  institution  of  Slavery  ?  Your  fathers,  and  my 
fathers  did  not  think  so.  They  did  not  see  that  it  would  be  of  the  least 
advantage  to  the  slaves  of  the  Southern  States,  to  cut  off  the  South  from 
all  connection  with  the  North.  Their  views  of  humanity  led  to  no  such 
result ;  and,  of  course,  when  the  Constitution  was  framed  and  established, 
and  adopted  by  you,  here  in  New  York,  and  by  New  England,  it  contained 
an  express  provision  of  security  to  the  persons  who  lived  in  the  Southern 
States,  in  regard  to  fugitives  who  owed  them  service  ;  that  is  to  say,  the  fu 
gitive  from  service  or  labor,  it  was  stipulated,  should  be  restored  to  his  master 
or  owner  if  he  escaped  into  a  free  State.  Well,  that  had  been  the  history 
of  the  country  from  its  first  settlement.  It  was  a  matter  of  common 
practice  to  return  fugitives  before  the  Constitution  was  formed.  Fugitive 
slaves  from  Virginia  to  Massachusetts  were  restored  by  the  people  of  Mas 
sachusetts.  At  that  day  there  was  a  great  system  of  apprenticeship  at 


11 

the  North,  and  many  apprentices  at  the  North,  taking  advantage  of  cir 
cumstances,  and  of  vessels  sailing  to  the  South,  thereby  escaped  ;  and 
they  were  restored  on  proper  claim  and  proof.  That  led  to  a  clear, 
express,  and  well-defined  provision  in  the  Constitution  of  the  country  on 
the  subject.  Now,  I  know  that  all  these  things  are  common  ;  that  they 
have  been  stated  a  thousand  times  ;  but  in  these  days  of  perpetual  discon 
tent  and  misrepresentation,  to  state  things  a  thousand  times  is  not  enough ; 
for  there  are  more  than  a  thousand  persons,  whose  consciences,  one  would 
think,  lead  them  to  make  it  a  duty  to  deny,  misrepresent,  falsify,  and  cover 
up  truths. 

Now  here  is  the  Constitution,  fellow-citizens,  and  I  have  taken  the  pains 
to  transcribe  therefrom  these  words,  so  that  he  who  runs  may  read : 

"  No  PERSON  HELD  TO  SERVICE  OR  LABOR  IN  ONE  STATE,  UNDER  THE 
LAWS  THEREOF,  ESCAPING  INTO  ANOTHER,  SHALL,  IN  CONSEQUENCE  OF  ANY 
LAW  OR  REGULATION  THEREIN,  BE  DISCHARGED  FROM  SUCH  SERVICE  OR 
LABOR,  BUT  SHALL  BE  DELIVERED  UP  ON  CLAIM  OF  THE  PARTY  TO  WHOM 
SUCH  SERVICE  OR  LABOR  MAY  BE  DUE." 

Is  there  any  mistake  about  that  ?  Is  there  any  forty  shilling  attorney 
here  to  make  a  question  of  it  ?  No.  I  will  not  disgrace  my  profession  by 
supposing  such  a  thing.  There  is  not  in  or  out  of  an  attorney's  office  in 
the  county  of  Erie,  or  elsewhere,  one  who  could  raise  a  doubt,  or  a  par 
ticle  of  a  doubt,  about  the  meaning  of  this  provision  of  the  Constitu 
tion.  He  may  act  as  witnesses  do,  sometimes,  on  the  stand.  He  may 
wriggle  and  twist,  and  say  he  cannot  tell,  or  cannot  remember.  I  have 
seen  many  such  exhibitions  in  my  time,  on  the  part  of  witnesses,  to 
falsify  and  deny  the  truth.  But  there  is  no  man  who  can  read  these 
words  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  say  they  are  not 
clear  and  imperative.  "  No  person,"  the  constitution  says,  "  held  to  ser 
vice  or  labor  in  one  State,  under  the  laws  thereof,  escaping  into  another, 
shall,  in  consequence  of  any  law  or  regulation  therein,  be  discharged  from 
such  service  or  labor,  but  shall  be  delivered  up  on  the  claim  of  the 
party  to  whom  such  service  or  labor  may  be  due."  Why,  you  are  told  by 
forty  conventions  in  Massachusetts,  in  Ohio,  in  New  York,  in  Syracuse, 
and  elsewhere,  that  if  a  colored  man  comes  here,  he  comes  as  a  freeman  ; 
that  is  a  non  sequitur.  It  is  not  so.  If  he  comes  as  a  fugitive  from  labor, 
the  Constitution  says  he  is  not  a  freeman,  and  that  he  shall  be  delivered  up 
to  those  who  are  entitled  to  his  service.  Now,  gentlemen,  that  is  the  Con 
stitution  of  the  United  States.  Gentlemen,  do  we,  or  do  we  not,  mean  to 
conform  to  it,  and  to  execute  that  part  of  the  Constitution  as  well  as  the 
rest  of  it  ?  I  suppose  there  are  before  me  here  members  of  Congress.  ^ 
suppose  there  are  here  members  of  the  State  Legislature,  or  executive 
officers  under  the  State  government.  I  suppose  there  are  judicial  magis 
trates  of  New  York,  executive  officers,  assessors,  supervisors,  justices  of 
the  peace,  and  constables,  before  me.  Allow  me  to  say,  gentlemen,  that 
there  is  not,  that  there  cannot  be,  any  one  of  these  officers  in  this  ass( 
blage,  or  elsewhere,who  has  not,  according  to  the  form  of  his  usual  obligation, 
bound  himself  by  a  solemn  oath,  before  God,  to  support  the  Constitute 
They  have  taken  their  oaths  on  the  Holy  Evangelists  of  Almighty  God,  or  by 
uplifted  hand,  as  the  case  may  be,  or  by  a  solemn  affirmation,  as  is  the  prac 
in  some  cases.  But  among  all  of  them,  there  is  not  a  man  who  holds  nor 
is  there  any  man  who  can  hold,  any  office  in  the  gift  of  the  United 


12 

or  in  this  State,  or  in  any  other  State,  who  does  not  become  bound, 
by  the  solemn  obligation  of  an  oath,  that  he  will  support  the  Consti 
tution  of  the  United  States.  Well,  is  he  to  tamper  with  that  ?  Is  he  to 
falter  ?  Gentlemen,  our  political  duties  are  as  much  matters  of  conscience 
as  any  other  duties  ;  our  sacred  domestic  ties,  our  most  endearing  social 
relations,  are  no  more  the  subject  for  conscientious  consideration  and  con 
scientious  discharge,  than  the  duties  we  enter  upon  under  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States.  The  bonds  of  political  brotherhood,  are  the  bonds 
which  hold  us  together  from  Maine  to  Georgia. 

Now,  gentlemen,  that  is  the  plain  story  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  on  the  question  of  slavery.  Gentlemen,  I  contend, 
and  have  always  contended,  that  after  the  adoption  or  the  Constitu 
tion,  any  measure  of  the  Government  calculated  to  bring  more  slave  ter 
ritory  into  the  United  States,  was  beyond  the  power  of  the  Constitution, 
and  against  its  provisions.  That  is  my  opinion,  and  it  always  has  been 
my  opinion.  It  was  inconsistent  with  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  or  thought  to  be  so,  in  Jefferson's  time,  to  attach  Louisiana  to 
the  United  States.  A  treaty  with  France  was  made  for  that  purpose.  But 
Jefferson's  opinion  at  that  moment  was,  that  an  alteration  of  the  Consti 
tution  was  necessary  to  enable  it  to  be  done.  In  consequence  of  conside 
rations,  which  I  need  not  now  recur  to,  that  opinion  was  abandoned,  and 
Louisiana  was  admitted  by  law,  without  any  provision  or  alteration  in  the 
Constitution.  At  that  time,  I  was  too  young  to  hold  any  office,  or  take 
any  share  in  the  political  affairs  of  the  country.  Louisiana  was  admitted 
as  a  slave  State,  and  became  entitled  to  her  representation  in  Congress  on 
the  principle  of  a  mixed  basis.  Florida  was  afterwards  admitted.  Then 
too,  I  was  out  of  Congress  ;  I  had  been  in  it  once  ;  but  I  had  nothing  to 
do  with  the  Florida  treaty,  or  the  admission  of  Florida.  My  opinion  re 
mains  unchanged,  that  it  was  not  within  the  original  scope  or  design  of  the 
Constitution  to  admit  new  States  out  of  foreign  territory ;  and  that  for 
one,  I  never  would  consent ;  and  no  matter  what  may  be  said  at  the 
Syracuse  convention,  or  at  any  other  assemblage  of  insane  persons,  I 
never  would  consent,  and  never  have  consented,  that  there  should  be 
one  foot  of  slave  territory  beyond  what  the  old  thirteen  States  had  at 
the  time  of  the  formation  of  the  Union.  Never,  never.  The  man 
cannot  show  his'face  to  me  and  say  he  can  prove  that  I  ever  departed 
from  that  doctrine.  He  would  sneak  away,  and  slink  away,  or  hire  a 
mercenary  Press,  that  he  might  cry  out  what  an  apostate  from  liberty 
Daniel  Webster  has  become.  (Laughter  and  cheers.)  He  knows  himself 
to  be  a  hypocrite  and  a  falsifier.  But,  gentlemen,  I  was  in  public  life  when 
the  proposition  to  annex  Texas  to  the  United  States  was  brought  forward. 
You  know  the  revolution  in  Texas,  which  divided  that  country  from  Mex 
ico,  occurred  in  the  year  1835  or  '36.  I  saw  then,  and  I  do  not  know  that  it 
required  any  particular  foresight,  that  it  would  be  the  very  next  thing  to 
bring  Texas,  which  was  designed  to  be  a  slaveholding  State,  into  this 
Union.  I  did  not  wait.  I  sought  an  occasion  to  proclaim  my  utter  aversion 
to  any  such  measure,  and  I  determined  to  resist  it  with  all  my  strength  to 
the  last.  Now,  gentlemen,  it  is  not  for  your  edification,  I  am  sure,  that  I 
now  revive  what  I  have  before  spoken  in  the  presence  of  this  assembly. 
I  was  in  this  city  in  the  year  1837,  and  long  before  I  left  New  York  on 
that  excursion,  in  the  course  of  which  I  went  to  the  South  and  returned 


13 

here,  my  friends  in  New  York  were  kind  enough  to  offer  me  a  public  din 
ner  as  a  testimony  of  their  public  regard.  I  went  out  of  my  way, 
on  that  occasion,  for  the  purpose  of  showing  what  I  anticipated  in  the  at 
tempt  to  annex  Texas  as  a  slave  territory,  and  said  it  should  be  opposed 
by  me  to  the  last  extremity.  And  in  Niblo's  Garden,  in  March,  1837, 1 
made  a  speech.  Well,  there  was  the  press  all  around  me.  The  whig 
press  and  the  democratic  press.  Some  spoke  in  terms  commendatory 
enough  of  my  speech,  but  all  agreed  that  I  took  pains  to  step  out  of  my 
way  to  denounce  in  advance  the  annexation  of  Texas  as  slave  territory  to 
the  United  States.  I  said  on  that  occasion  : 

"  Gentlemen,  we  all  see  that,  by  whomsoever  possessed,  Texas  is  likely 
to  be  a  slaveholding  country  ;  and  I  frankly  avow  my  entire  unwillingness 
to  do  anything  that  shall  extend  the  slavery  of  the  African  on  this  conti 
nent,  or  add  other  slaveholding  States  to  the  Union.  When  I  said  that  I 
regarded  slavery  as  a  great  moral  and  political  evil,  I  only  used  language 
that  has  been  adopted  by  distinguished  men,  themselves  citizens  of  slave- 
holding  States.  I  shall  do  nothing,  therefore,  to  extend  or  encourage  its 
further  extension.  We  have  slavery  already  amongst  us.  The  Constitu 
tion  found  it  amongst  us.  It  recognized  it,  and  gave  it  solemn  guarantees. 
To  the  full  extent  of  these  guarantees  we  are  all  bound  in  honor,  in  justice, 
and  by  the  Constitution.  All  the  stipulations  contained  in  the  Constitu 
tion,  in  favor  of  the  slaveholding  States  which  are  already  in  the  Union, 
ought  to  be  fulfilled,  and,  so  far  as  depends  on  me,  shall  be  fulfilled,  in  the 
fullness  of  their  spirit,  and  to  the  exactness  of  their  letter.  Slavery,  as  it 
exists  in  the  States,  is  beyond  the  reach  of  Congress.  It  is  the  concern 
of  the  States  themselves.  They  have  never  submitted  it  to  Congress,  and 
Congress  has  no  right  or  power  over  it.  I  shall  concur,  therefore,  in  no 
act,  no  measure,  no  menace,  no  indication  or  purpose,  which  shall  inter 
fere,  or  threaten  to  interfere,  with  the  exclusive  authority  of  the  several 
States  over  the  subject  of  slavery,  as  it  exists  within  their  respective  limits. 
All  this  appears  to  me  to  be  a  matter  of  plain  and  imperative  duty.  But 
when  we  come  to  speak  of  admitting  new  States,  the  subject  assumes  a 
new  and  entirely  different  aspect.  Our  rights  and  our  duties  are  then  both 
different.  The  free  States  and  all  the  States  are  then  at  liberty  to  accept 
or  reject.  When  it  is  proposed  to  bring  new  members  into  the  political 
partnership,  the  old  members  have  a  right  to  say  on  what  terms  such  part 
ners  are  to  come  in,  and  what  they  are  to  bring  along  with  thern.^  In  my 
opinion,  the  people  of  the  United  States  will  not  consent  to  bring  in  a  new, 
vastly  extensive,  and  slaveholding  country,  large  enough  for  half  a  dozen 
or  a  dozen  States,  into  the  Union.  In  my  opinion,  they  ought  not  to 
consent  to  it."  . 

Gentlemen,  I  was  mistaken  ;  Congress  did  consent  to  the  bringing  m  ol 
Texas.  They  did  consent,  and  I  was  a  false  prophet.  Your  own  State 
consented,  and  the  majority  of  the  representatives  of  New  York  consented. 
I  went  into  Congress  before  the  final  consummation  of  the  deed,  ai 


whether  it  shames  the  devil  or  not.  (Laughter.)  Persons  who  have  as 
pired  hi<rh  as  lovers  of  liberty,  as  eminent  lovers  of  the  Wilmot  W™i " 
eminent°Free-soil  men,  and  who  have  mounted  over  our  heads,  and  trodden 


14 

us  down  as  if  we  were  mere  slaves,  they  are  the  men,  the  very  men,  that 
brought  Texas  into  this  country,  insisting  that  they  are  the  only  true  lovers 
of  liberty ;  and  yet  that  is  the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the 
truth,  and  I  declare  it  before  you,  this  day.  Look  to  the  journals.  With 
out  the  consent  of  New  York,  Texas  would  not  have  come  into  the  Union, 
under  either  the  original  resolutions  or  afterwards.  But  New  York  voted 
for  the  measure.  The  two  Senators  from  New  York  voted  for  it,  and 
turned  the  question,  and  you  may  thank  them  for  the  glory,  the  renown, 
and  the  happiness  of  having  five  or  six  slave  States  added  to  the  Union. 
(Great  sensation. )  Do  not  blame  me  for  it.  Let  them  answer  who  did  the 
deed,  and  who  are  now  proclaiming  liberty,  crying  up  their  free-soil  creed, 
and  using  it  for  humbug  and  tiading  purposes. 

Gentlemen,  who  aided  in  bringing  in  Texas  ?  It  was  all  fairly  told  to 
you,  both  beforehand,  and  afterwards.  You  heard  Moses  and  the  prophets, 
(laughter,)  but  if  one  had  risen  from  the  dead,  such  was  your  devotion  to 
that  policy,  at  that  time,  that  you  would  not  have  heard  him,  or  listened 
to  him  for  a  moment.  I  do  not,  of  course,  speak  of  the  persons  now  here 
before  me,  but  of  the  general  political  tone  in  New  York,  and  especially  of 
those  who  are  now  free-soil  apostles.  Well,  all  that  I  do  not  complain  of, 
but  I  will  not  now,  or  hereafter,  before  the  country,  or  the  world,  consent 
to  be  numbered  among  those  who  introduced  new  slave  power  into  the 
Union.  I  did  all  in  my  power  to  prevent  it.  (Applause.)  Then  again, 
gentlemen,  the  Mexican  war  broke  out.  Vast  territory  was  acquired,  and 
the  peace  was  made  ;  and,  much  as  I  disliked  the  war,  I  disliked  the  peace 
more,  because  it  brought  in  these  territories.  I  wished  for  peace  indeed, 
but  I  desired  to  strike  out  the  grant  of  territory  on  the  one  side,  and  the 
payment  of  the  $12,000,000  on  the  other.  That  territory  was  unknown. 
I  did  not  know  what  it  might  be.  The  plan  came  from  the  South.  I 
knew  that  certain  Southern  gentlemen  wished  the  acquisition  of  California 
New  Mexico,  and  Utah,  as  a  means  of  extending  slave  power  and 
slave  population  ;  almost  everything  was  unknown  about  the  country.  I  did 
not  fall  into  their  idea  much  ;  but  seeing  a  quarrel,  and  as  I  conceived, 
seeing  how  much  it  would  distract  the  Union,  I  voted  against  the  peace 
with  Mexico.  I  voted  against  the  acquisition.  I  wanted  none  of  her 
territory,  California,  New  Mexico,  nor  Utah.  They  were  rather  ultra- 
American,  as  I  thought.  They  were  far  from  us,  and  I  saw  that  they 
might  lead  to  a  political  disturbance,  and  I  voted  against  them  all,  against 
the  treaty  and  against  the  peace,  and  I  am  glad  of  it,  rather  than  have 
the  territories.  Seeing  that  it  would  be  an  occasion  of  dispute,  that  by  the 
controversy  the  whole  Union  would  be  agitated,  Messrs.  Berrien,  Badger, 
and  other  respectable  and  distinguished  men  of  the  South,  voted  against 
the  acquisition,  and  the  treaty  which  secured  it ;  and  if  the  men  of  the 
North  had  voted  the  same  way,  we  should  have  been  spared  all  the  diffi 
culties  that  have  grown  out  of  it.  We  should  have  had  the  peace,  without 
the  territories.  (Applause.)  Now,  there  is  no  sort  of  doubt,  gentlemen, 
that  there  were  some  persons  in  the  South  who  supposed  that  California,  if 
it  came  in  at  all,  would  come  in  as  a  slave  State.  You  know  the  extraor 
dinary  events  which  immediately  occurred.  You  know  that  California  re 
ceived  a  rush  from  the  Northern  people,  and  that  an  African  slave  could 
no  more  live  there  than  he  could  live  on  the  top  of  Mount  Hecla.  Of  ne 
cessity  it  became  a  free  State,  and  that,  no  doubt,  was  a  source  of  much 


15 


was  of  the  opinion  that  the  mountains  of  New  Mexico  and  Utah  could  no  more 
sustain  American  slavery  than  the  snows  of  Canada.  I  saw  it  was  impos 
sible.  I  thought  so  then;  it  is  quite  evident  now.  Therefore,  gentle 
men,  when  it  was  proposed  in  Congress  to  apply  the  Wilmot  Proviso  to 
New  Mexico  and  Utah,  it  appeared  to  me  just  as  absurd  as  to  apply  it  here 
in  Western  New-York.  I  saw  that  the  snow  hills,  the  eternal  mountains, 
and  the  climate  of  those  countries,  would  never  support  slavery.  No  man 
could  carry  a  slave  there  with  any  expectation  of  profit.  It  could  not  be 
done  ;  and  as  the  South  regarded  the  Proviso  as  merely  a  source  of  irrita 
tion,  and  by  some  as  designed  to  irritate,  I  was  not  willing  to  adopt  it, 
and,  therefore,  I  saw  no  occasion  for  applying  the  Wilmot  Proviso  to  New 
Mexico  or  Utah.  I  voted  accordingly,  and  who  doubts  now  the  correct 
ness  of  that  vote  ?  The  law  admitting  those  territories  passed  without 
any  proviso.  Is  there  a  slave,  or  will  there  ever  be  one,  in  either  of  those 
territories  ?  Why,  there  is  not  a  man  in  the  United  States  so  stupid  as 
not  to  see  at  this  moment,  that  such  a  thing  was  wholly  unnecessary,  and 
that  it  was  only  calculated  to  irritate  and  to  offend.  And  I  am  not  one 
who  is  disposed  to  create  irritation,  or  give  offence  to  our  brothers,  or  to 
break  up  fraternal  friendship,  without  cause.  The  question  was  open 
whether  slavery  should  or  should  not  go  to  New  Mexico  or  Utah.  There 
is  no  slavery  there,  there  is  not  the  shining  face  of  an  African  there.  It 
is  utterly  impracticable,  and  utterly  ridiculous  to  suppose  that  slavery 
could  exist  there,  and  no  one,  who  does  not  mean  to  deceive,  will  now  pre 
tend  it  can  exist  there. 

Well,  gentlemen,  we  have  a  race  of  agitators  all  over  the  country,  some 
connected  with  the  press ;  some,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  connected  with  the 
learned  professions.  They  agitate  ;  their  livelihood  consists  in  agitating  ; 
their  freehold,  their  copyhold,  their  capital,  their  all  in  all,  depend  on 
the  excitement  of  the  public  mind.  G-entlemen,  these  things  were  going 
on  at  the  commencement  of  the  year  1850.  There  were  two  great  ques 
tions  before  the  public.  There  was  the  question  of  the  Texan  boundary, 
and  of  a  government  for  Utah  and  New  Mexico,  which  I  consider  as  one 
question  ;  and  there  was  the  question  of  making  a  provision  for  the  resto 
ration  of  fugitive  slaves.  Gentlemen,  on  these  subjects,  I  have  something 
to  say.  Texas,  as  you  know,  established  her  independence  of  Mexico,  by 
her  revolution  and  the  battle  of  San  Jacinto,  which  made  her  a  sovereign 
power.  I  have  already  stated  to  you,  what  I  then  anticipated  from  the 
movement,  that  she  would  ask  to  come  into  the  Union  as  a  slave  State. 
We  admitted  her  in  1845,  and  we  admitted  her  as  a  slave  State.  We  ad 
mitted  her  in  1845,  and  we  admitted  her  with  an  undefined  boundary  ;  re 
member  that.  She  claimed  by  conquest  all  that  territory  which  was  com 
monly  called  New  Mexico,  East  of  the  Rio  Grande.  She  claimed  also  those 
limits  which  her  Constitution  had  declared  and  established  as  the  proper 
limits  of  Texas.  This  was  her  claim,  and  when  she  was  admitted  into  the 
United  States,  the  United  States  did  not  define  her  territory.^  They  ad 
mitted  her  as  she  was.  We  took  her  as  she  defined  her  own  limits,  and  with 
the  power  of  making  four  additional  slave  States.  I  say  "  we,"  but  I  do 
not  mean  that  I  was  one  ;  I  mean  the  United  States  admitted  her.  Now, 


16 

to  judge  fairly,  let  us  go  back  to  1850.  What  was  the  state  of  things  in 
1850  ?  There  was  Texas  claiming  all,  or  a  great  part  of  that,  which 
the  United  States  had  acquired  from  Mexico  as  New  Mexico.  She  stated 
that  it  belonged  to  her  by  conquest  and  by  her  admission  into  the  United 
States,  and  she  was  ready  to  maintain  her  claims  by  force  of  arms.  Re 
collect  that  is  not  all.  A  man  must  be  ignorant  of  the  history  of  the 
country  who  does  not  know,  that  at  the  commencement  of  1850  there  was 
a  great  agitation  throughout  the  whole  South.  Who  does  not  know  that 
six  or  seven  of  the  largest  States  of  the  South  had  already  taken  measures 
for  separation  ;  were  preparing  for  disunion  in  some  way  ?  They  concur 
red,  apparently,  at  least  some  of  them,  with  Texas,  while  Texas  was  pre 
pared  or  preparing  to  enforce  her  rights  by  force  of  arms.  Troops  were 
enlisted,  and  do  not  you  remember,  gentlemen,  at  this  time,  and  in  this 
state  of  things,  how  many  thousand  persons  in  the  South  were  disaffected 
towards  the  Union,  or  were  desirous  for  breaking  it  up,  or  were  ready  to 
join  Texas  ;  to  join  her  ranks,  and  see  what  they  could  make,  in  a  war  to 
establish  the  rights  of  Texas  to  New  Mexico  ?  The  public  mind  was  dis 
turbed.  There  were  thousands  and  thousands  ready  to  join  Texas.  Now, 
a  great  part  of  the  South  at  this  time  was  disaffected  towards  the  Union. 
These  very  men  were  in  a  condition  to  fall  into  any  course  of  things  that 
should  be  violent  and  destructive.  Well  then,  gentlemen,  what  was  to  be 
done  let  me  ask  again,  as  far  as  Texas  was  concerned  ?  Allow  me  to  say, 
gentlemen,  there  are  two  sorts  of  foresight.  There  is  a  military  foresight, 
which  sees  what  will  be  the  result  of  an  appeal  to  arms  ;  and  there  is  also 
a  statesmanlike  foresight,  which  looks  not  to  the  result  of  battles  and 
carnage,  but  to  the  results  of  political  disturbances,  the  violence  of  faction 
carried  into  military  operations,  and  the  horrors  attendant  on  civil  war. 

I  never  had  a  doubt,  gentlemen,'  that  if  the  administration  of  General 
Taylor  had  gone  to  war,  and  had  sent  troops  into  New  Mexico,  that  he 
would  have  whipped  the  Texas  forces  in  a  week.  The  power  on  one 
side  was  far  superior  to  all  the  power  on  the  other.  But  what  then  ? 
What  if  Texan  troops,  assisted  by  thousands  of  volunteers,  from  the  dis 
affected  States,  had  gone  to  New  Mexico,  and  had  been  defeated  and 
turned  back,  would  that  have  settled  the  boundary  question  ?  Now,  gen 
tlemen,  I  wish  I  had  ten  thousand  voices.  I  wish  I  could  draw  around  me 
the  whole  people  of  the  United  States,  and  I  wish  I  could  make  them 
all  hear  what  I  now  declare  on  my  own  conscience,  before  the  Power  who 
sits  on  high,  and  who  will  judge  you  and  me  hereafter,  as  my  solemn 
belief,  that  if  this  Texas  controversy  had  not  been  settled  by  Congress  in 
the  manner  called  the  adjustment  measures,  civil  war  would  have  ensued  ; 
blood,  American  blood,  would  have  been  shed  ;  and  who  can  tell  what  else 
would  have  been  the  consequence  ?  Gentlemen,  in  an  honorable  war,  if 
a  foreign  foe  invade  us,  if  our  rights  were  threatened,  if  it  were  necessary 
to  defend  them  by  arms,  I  am  not  afraid  of  blood.  And,  if  I  am  too  old 
myself,  I  hope  there  are  those  connected  with  me  who  are  young,  and  will 
ing  to  defend  their  country  to  the  last  drop  of  their  own  blood.  (Sensa 
tion.)  But  I  cannot  express  the  horror  I  feel  at  the  shedding  of  blood  in 
a  controversy  between  one  of  these  States  and  the  government  of  the 
United  States,  because  I  see  in  it,  in  the  sight  of  Heaven,  a  total  and 
entire  disruption  of  all  those  ties  that  make  us  a  great  and  a  happy  people. 

Gentlemen,  that  was  the  great  question,  the  leading  question,  at  the 


17 

commencement  of  the  year  1850.  Then  there  was  the  other,  and  that 
was  the  matter  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law.  Let  me  say  a  word  about 
that.  Under  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution  in  General  Washington's 
administration,  in  the  year  1793,  there  was  passed  a  law  for  the  restora- 
t  ion  of  fugitive  slaves,  by  general  consent.  Hardly  any  one  opposed  it  at 
that  period  ;  it  was  thought  to  be  necessary,  in  order  to  carry  the  Consti- 
t  ution  into  effect :  the  great  men  of  New  England  and  New  York  all  con 
curred  in  it.  It  passed,  and  answered  all  the  purposes  expected  from 
it  till  about  the  year  1841  or  1842,  when  the  States  interfered  to  make 
enactments  in  opposition  to  it.  The  law  of  Congress  said  that  State 
magistrates  might  execute  the  duties  of  the  law.  Some  of  the  States 
passed  enactments  imposing  a  penalty  on  any  who  exercised  authority 
under  the  law,  or  assisted  in  its  execution  ;  others  denied  the  use 
of  their  jails  to  carry  the  law  into  effect ;  and,  generally,  at  the  com 
mencement  of  the  year  1850,  it  was  absolutely,  I  say  it  was  absolutely, 
indispensable  that  Congress  should  pass  some  law  for  the  execution  of  this 
provision  of  the  Constitution,  or  else  give  up  that  provision  entirely. 
That  was  the  question.  I  was  in  Congress  when  the  subject  was  pro 
posed.  I  was  for  a  proper  law.  I  had,  indeed,  proposed  a  different  law ; 
I  was  of  opinion  that  a  summary  trial  by  a  jury  might  be  had,  which  would 
satisfy  the  prejudices  of  the  people,  and  produce  no  harm  to  those  who 
claimed  the  service  of  fugitives ;  but  I  left  the  Senate,  and  went  to 
another  station,  before  the  law  was  passed.  The  law  of  1850  passed. 
Now  I  undertake,  as  a  lawyer,  and  on  my  professional  character,  to  say 
to  you  and  to  all,  that  the  law  of  1850  is  decidedly  more  favorable  to 
the  fugitive  than  General  Washington's  law  of  1793 ;  and  I  tell  you  why. 
In  the  first  place,  the  present  law  places  the  power  in  much  higher  hands ; 
in  the  hands  of  independent  judges  of  the  Supreme,  and  Circuit  Courts, 
and  District  Courts,  and  Commissioners  who  are  appointed  to  office  for 
their  law  learning.  Every  fugitive  is  brought  before  a  tribunal  of  high 
character,  of  eminent  ability,  of  respectable  station.  Well,  then,  in  the 
second  place,  when  a  claimant  comes  from  Virginia  to  New  York,  to  say 
that  one  A  or  one  B  has  run  away,  or  is  a  fugitive  from  service,  or  labor, 
he  brings  with  him  a  record  of  the  county  from  which  he  comes,  and 
that  record  must  be  sworn  to  before  a  magistrate,  and  certified  by  the 
county  clerk,  and  bear  an  official  seal.  The  affidavit  must  state  that  A 
or  B  (as  the  case  may  be)  had  departed  under  such  and  such  circum 
stances,  and  had  gone  to  another  State ;  and  that  record,  under 
seal  is,  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  entitled  to  full 
credit  in  every  State.  Well,  the  claimant  or  his  agent  comes  here,  and  he 
presents  to  you  the  seal  of  the  courts  of  Virginia,  that  A  or  B  had  escaped 
from  service.  He  must  prove  that  he  is  here.  He  brings  a  witness,  and 
asks  if  this  is  the  man,  and  he  proves  it ;  or,  in  ten  cases  out  of  eleven, 
the  answer  would  be,  "  Yes,  massa,  I  am  your  slave  ;  I  did  escape  from 
your  service."  t  ... 

Such  is  the  present  law  ;  and,  as  much  opposed  and  maligned  as  it  is,  it 
is  a  more  favorable  law  to  the  fugitive  slave  than  the  law  enacted  in  Wash 
ington's  time,  in  1793,  which  was  sanctioned  by  the  North  as  well  as  by  the 
South.  The  existing,  violent,  and  unceasing  opposition,  has  sprung  up 
in  modern  times.  From  whom  does  this  clamor  come  ?  ^Vhy,  look 
at  the  proceedings  of  the  Anti-slavery  conventions ;  look  at  their  resolu- 


18 

tions.  Do  you  find  among  all  those  persons  who  oppose  this  Fugitive  Slave 
law,  any  admission,  whatever,  that  any  law  ought  to  be  passed  to  carry 
into  effect  the  solemn  stipulations  of  the  Constitution  ?  Tell  me  any  such 
case ;  tell  me  if  any  resolution  was  passed  by  the  Convention  at  Syracuse, 
favoring  the  carrying  out  of  the  Constitution  ?  Not  one  !  The  fact  is,  gen 
tlemen,  they  oppose  the  whole  !  they  oppose  the  whole  !  Not  a  man  of  them 
admits  that  there  ought  to  be  any  law  on  the  subject.  They  deny,  alto 
gether,  that  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution  ought  to  be  carried  into  ef 
fect.  Well,  what  do  they  say  ?  Look  at  the  proceedings  of  the  Anti-slavery 
conventions  in  Ohio,  Massachusetts,  and  at  Syracuse,  in  the  State  of  New 
York.  What  do  they  say  ?  "  That,  so  help  them  God,  no  colored  man 
shall  be  sent  from  the  State  of  New  York,  back  to  his  master  in  Virginia  !" 
Do  not  they  say  that  ?  and,  for  the  fulfillment  of  that,  they  "  pledge  their 
lives,  their  fortunes,  and  their  sacred  honor."  (Laughter.)  Their  sacred 
honor  !  !  (Laughter.)  They  pledge  their  sacred  honor  to  violate  the  laws 
of  their  country  ;  they  pledge  their  sacred  honor  to  resist  their  execution  ; 
they  pledge  their  sacred  honor  to  commit  treason  against  the  laws  of  their 
country ! 

I  have  already  stated,  gentlemen,  what  your  observation  of  these  things 
must  have  taught  you.  I  will  only  recur  to  the  subject  for  a  moment,  for 
the  purpose  of  persuading  you,  as  public  men  and  private  men,  as  good 
men  and  patriotic  men,  that  you  ought,  to  the  extent  of  your  ability  and 
influence,  to  see  to  it,  that  such  laws  are  established  and  maintained  as 
shall  keep  you,  and  the  South,  and  the  West,  and  all  the  country  together, 
as  far  as  it  is  just  and  right,  and  as  far  as  the  Constitution  demands.  I 
say,  that  what  is  demanded  of  us  is,  to  be  up  to  our  constitutional  duties, 
and  to  do  for  the  South  what  the  South  have  a  right  to  demand. 

Gentlemen,  I  have  been  some  time  before  the  public.  My  character  is 
known,  my  life  is  before  the  country.  I  profess  to  love  liberty  as  much  as 
any  man  living ;  but  I  profess  to  love  American  liberty,  that  liberty  which 
is  secured  to  the  country  by  the  Constitution  under  which  we  live  ;  and  I 
have  no  great  opinion  of  that  other  and  higher  liberty  which  goes  over  the 
restraints  of  law  and  of  the  Constitution.  I  hold  the  Constitution  of  the  Uni 
ted  States  to  be  the  bulwark,  the  only  bulwark,  of  our  liberties  and  of  our 
national  charter.  I  do  not  mean  that  you  should  become  slaves  under  the 
Constitution.  That  is  not  American  liberty.  That  is  not  the  liberty  of 
the  Union  for  which  our  fathers  fought,  that  liberty  which  has  given  us  a 
right  to  be  known  and  respected  all  over  the  world.  I  mean  only  to  say, 
that  I  am  for  Constitutional  Liberty.  It  is  enough  for  me  to  be  as  free  as 
the  Constitution  of  the  country  makes  me. 

Now,  gentlemen,  let  me  say,  that,  as  much  as  I  respect  the  character  of 
the  people  of  Western  New  York,  as  much  as  I  wish  to  retain  your  good 
opinion,  if  you  should  ever  place  ine,  hereafter,  in  any  connection  with  public 
life,  1st  me  tell  you  now  that  you  must  not  expect  from  me  the  slightest 
variation,  even  of  a  hair's  breadth,  from  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States.  (Cries  of  "  Good,  good,  good")  lama  Northern  man.  I  was 
born  at  the  North,  educated  at  the  North,  have  lived  all  my  days  at  the 
North.  I  know  five  hundred  Northern  men  to  one  Southern  man.  My 
sympathies,  all  my  sympathies,  my  love  of  liberty  for  all  mankind,  of  every 
color,  are  the  same  as  yours.  My  affections  and  hopes  in  that  respect  are 
exactly  like  yours.  I  wish  to  see  all  men  free,  all  men  happy.  I  have  few 


19 

personal  associations  out  of  the  Northern  States.  My  people  are  your  peo 
ple.  And  yet  I  am  told  sometimes  that  I  am  not  a  liberty  man,  because 
I  am  not  a  Free-soil  man.  (Laughter.)  What  am  I  ?  What  was  I  ever  ? 
What  shall  I  be  hereafter,  if  I  could  sacrifice,  for  any  consideration,  that 
love  of  American  liberty  which  has  glowed  in  my  breast  since  my  infancy 
and  which,  I  hope,  will  never  leave  me  till  I  expire  ?  (Applause.) 

Gentlemen,  I  regret  that  slavery  exists  in  the  Southern  States,  but  it 
is  clear  and  certain,  that  Congress  has  no  power  over  it.  It  may  be,  how 
ever,  that  in  the  dispensations  of  Providence,  some  remedy  for  this  evil 
may  occur,  or  may  be  hoped  for  hereafter.  But,  in  the  meantime,  I  hold 
on  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  you  need  never  expect 
from  me,  under  any  circumstances,  that  I  shall  falter  from  it ;  that  I  shall 
be  otherwise  than  frank  and  decisive.  I  would  not  part  with  my  charac 
ter  as  a  man  of  firmness  and  decision,  and  honor  and  principle,  for  all  that 
the  world  possesses.  You  will  find  me  true  to  the  North,  because  all  my 
sympathies  are  with  the  North.  My  affections,  my  children,  my  hopes, 
my  everything,  are  with  the  North.  But  when  I  stand  up  before  my  coun 
try,  as  one  appointed  to  administer  the  Constitution  of  the  country,  by  the 
blessing  of  God  I  will  be  just.  (Great  applause.) 

Gentlemen,  I  expect  to  be  libeled  and  abused.  Yes !  libeled  and 
abused.  But  it  don't  disturb  me.  I  have  not  lost  a  night's  rest  for  a 
great  many  years  from  any  such  cause.  I  have  some  talent  for  sleeping. 
(Laughter.)  And  why  should  I  not  expect  to  be  libeled  ?  Is  not  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  libeled  and  abused  ?  Do  not  some 
people  call  it  the  production  of  hell  ?  Is  not  Washington  libeled  and 
abused?  Is  he  not  called  a  bloodhound  on  the  track  of  the  African 
negro  ?  Are  not  our  fathers  libeled  and  abused  by  their  own  children  ? 
And  ungrateful  children  they  are.  How,  then,  shall  I  escape  ?  I  do 
not  expect  to  escape  ;  but,  knowing  these  things,  I  impute  no  bad  motive 
to  any  men  of  character  and  fair  standing.  The  great  settlement  mea 
sures  of  the  last  Congress  are  laws.  Many  respectable  men,  representatives 
from  your  own  State  and  from  other  States,  did  not  concur  in  them.  I 
do  not  impute  any  bad  motive  to  them.  I  am  ready  to  believe  they  are 
Americans  all.  They  may  not  have  thought  them  necessary ;  or  they- 
may  have  thought  these  laws  would  be  enacted  without  their  concurrence. . 
Let  all  that  pass  away.  If  they  are  now  men  who  will  stand  by  what  is ; 
done,  and  stand  up  for  their  country,  and  say  that  these  laws  were  passed 
by  a  majority  of  the  whole  country,  and  we  must  stand  by  them  and  live 
by  them,  I  will  respect  them  all  as  friends. 

Now,  gentlemen,  allow  me  to  ask  of  you,  to-day,  What  do  you  think  would 
have  been  the  condition  of  the  country,  at  this  time,  if  these  laws  had  not 
been  passed  by  the  last  Congress  ?  If  the  question  of  the  Texas  boosdary 
had  not  been  settled  ?  New  Mexico  and  Utah  had  been  left  as  desert 
places,  and  no  government  had  been  provided  for  them  ?  And  if  the 
other  great  questions  to  which  State  laws  had  opposed  so  many  obstacles, 
in  the  restoration  of  fugitives,  had  not  been  settled,  I  ask  what  would 
have  been  the  state  of  this  country  now  ?  You  men  of  Erie  county,  you 
men  of  New  York,  I  conjure  you  to  go  home  to-night  and  meditate  on 
this  subject.  What  would  have  been  the  state  of  this  country,  now 
at  this  moment,  if  these  laws  had  not  been  passed  ?  I  have  given  my 
opinion  that  we  should  have  had  a  civil  war.  I  refer  it  to  you,  therefore, 


20 

for  your  consideration ;  meditate  on  it ;  do  not  be  carried  away  by  any 
motions  or  ideas  of  metaphysics  ;  think  practically  on  the  great  question  of 
what  would  have  been  the  condition  of  the  United  States  at  this  moment, 
if  we  had  not  settled  these  agitating  questions.  I  have  stated  that,  in  my 
opinion,  there  would  have  been  a  civil  war. 

G-entlemen,  will  you  allow  me,  for  a  moment,  to  advert  to  myself  ?  I 
have  been  a  long  time  in  public  life,  of  course  not  many  years  remain  to 
me.  At  the  commencement  of  1850, 1  saw  something  of  the  condition  of 
the  country,  and  I  thought  the  inevitable  consequence  would  be  civil 
war.  I  saw  danger  in  leaving  Utah  and  New  Mexico  without  any  govern 
ment,  a  prey  to  the  power  of  Texas.  I  saw  the  condition  of  things 
arising  from  the  interference  of  some  of  the  States  in  defeating  the  operation 
of  the  Constitution  in  respect  to  the  restoration  of  fugitive  slaves.  And, 
gentlemen,  I  made  up  my  mind  to  encounter  whatever  might  betide  me  ; 
and,  allow  me  to  say,  something  which  is  not  entirely  unworthy  of  notice. 
A  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  told  me  tKat  he  had  made  a  list 
of  140  speeches  which  had  been  made  in  Congress  on  the  slavery  question. 
"  That  is  a  very  large  number,  my  friend,"  I  said  ;  "  but  how  is  that  ?" 
"  Why,"  said  he,  "  a  Northern  man  gets  up  and  speaks  with  considerable 
power  and  fluency  until  the  Speaker's  hammer  knocks  him  down.  Then 
gets  up  a  Southern  man,  and  he  speaks  with  more  warmth.  He  is  nearer 
the  sun,  and  he  comes  out  against  the  North.  He  speaks  his  hour,  and 
is  in  turn,  knocked  down.  And  so  it  has  gone  on  until  I  have  got  140 
speeches  on  my  list."  "Well,"  said  I,  "  where  are  they  ?  and  what  are 
they  ?"  "If  the  speaker,"  said  he,  "  was  a  Northern  man,  he  held  forth 
against  slavery ;  and  if  he  was  from  the  South,  he  abused  the  North ;  and 
all  those  speeches  were  sent  by  the  members  to  their  own  localities,  where 
they  were  the  cause  of  the  local  irritation  which  existed  at  the  time.  No 
man  read  both  sides.  In  this  way  the  other  side  of  the  question  was  not 
heard  ;  no  man  read  both  sides."  I  thought  that  in  this  state  of  things 
8ome thing  was  to  be  done.  You  cannot  suppose  that  I  was  indifferent  to  the 
danger.  I  am  a  Massachusetts  man,  and  know  what  Massackusetts  used 
to  be.  I  am  a  Massachusetts  man.  Massachusetts  has  kept  me  a  great 
while  in  Congress.  I  will  honor  her  ;  I  respect  her,  and  mean  to  do  so 
as  long  as  I  live.  (Applause.) 

Well,  gentlemen,  suppose  that  on  that  occasion  I  had  taken  a  different 
course  from  what  I  did  take  ?  If  I  may  allude  to  anything  so  insignificant 
as  myself,  suppose  that,  on  the  7th  of  March,  instead  of  making  a  speech 
that  would,  as  far  as  my  power  went,  reconcile  the  country,  I  had  joined 
in  the  general  clamor  of  the  party  ?  Suppose  I  had  said,  "  I  will  have 
nothing  to  do  with  any  accommodation ;  we  will  admit  no  satisfaction ; 
we  will  let  Texas  invade  New  Mexico  ;  we  will  leave  New  Mexico  and 
Utah  to  take  care  of  themselves,  and  we  will  plant  ourselves  on  the  Wilmot 
Proviso,  and  let  the  devil  take  the  hindermost  ?"  Now,  gentlemen,  I  don't 
mean  to  say  that  great  consequences  would  have  followed  from  that ;  but 
suppose  I  had  taken  such  a  course  ?  How  could  I  be  blamed  for  it  ?  Was 
I  not  a  Massachusetts  man  ?  Did  I  not  know  Massachusetts  sentiments 
and  prejudices  ?  But  what  of  that  ?  I  am  an  American  !  (Great  ap 
plause.)  I  was  made  a  whole  man,  and  I  don't  mean  to  make  myself 
half  a  one.  (Tremendous  outbursts  of  applause.)  I  felt  I  had  a  duty 
to  perform  to  my  country,  to  my  own  reputation ;  for  I  flattered  myself 


21 

that  a  service  of  forty  years  had  given  me  some  character.  I  thought 
it  was  my  duty,  and  I  did  not  care  what  was  to  be  the  consequence  ; 
I  felt  it  was  my  duty  to  come  out,  to  go  for  my  country,  and  my  whole 
country,  and  to  exert  any  power  I  had  to  keep  that  country  together. 
(Great  applause.)  I  cared  for  nothing,  I  was  afraid  of  nothing,  but  meant 
to  do  my  duty.  Duty  performed  makes  a  man  happy ;  duty  neglected 
makes  a  man  unhappy.  I  therefore,  gentlemen,  in  the  face  of  all  circum 
stances,  and  all  dangers,  was  ready  to  go  forth  and  do  what  I  thought  my 
country,  your  country,  demanded  of  me.  And,  gentlemen,  allow  me  to 
say  here,  to-day,  that  if  the  fate  of  John  Rogers  had  been  presented  to 
me  ;  if  I  had  ssen  the  stake ;  if  I  had  heard  the  thorns  already  crackling  ; 
by  the  blessing  of  Almighty  God,  I  would  have  gone  on,  and  discharged 
the  duty  which  I  thought  my  country  called  upon  me  to  perform.  I  would 
have  become  a  martyr  to  save  that  country. 

And  now,  gentlemen,  farewell.  Live  and  be  happy.  Live  like  patriots. 
Live  like  Americans.  Live  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  inestimable  blessings 
which  your  fathers  prepared  for  you  ;  and  if  anything  that  I  may  do  here 
after  should  be  inconsistent,  in  the  slightest  degree,  with  the  opinions  and 
principles  which  I  have  this  day  addressed  to  you,  then  discard  me  forever 
from  your  recollection. 


22 


MR.  WEBSTER'S  SPEECH 


THE  DINNER  GIVEN  HIM  AT  BUFFALO. 

ME.  MAYOR  and  Fellow-Citizens  of  the  city  of  Buffalo,  I  know  that, 
in  regard  to  the  present  condition  of  the  country,  you  .think  as  I  think, 
that  there  is  but  one  all-absorbing  question,  and  that  is  the  preservation 
of  this  Union.  (Cheers.) 

Mr.  Mayor  and  Gentlemen  :  If  I  have  strength,  I  propose  to  say 
something  to  you  and  your  fellow-citizens  on  that  subject  to-morrow. 
(Outbursts  of  applause  for  some  time.)  In  this  social  interview  and  in 
tercourse,  gentlemen,  I  would  not  willingly  aspire  to  such  a  lofty,  all- 
important  theme.  I  desire,  rather,  on  this  occasion,  to  address  you  as 
citizens  of  Buffalo,  many  of  whom  I  have  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  in 
former  times,  many  of  whom  belong  to  the  generation,  which  has  grown  up 
since  I  was  first  here  ;  but  with  all  of  whom  I  feel  a  sympathy  for  the 
great  prosperity  which  has  distinguished  their  city,  and  the  fair  prospect 
which  Providence  holds  out  before  them.  (Applause.)  Gentlemen,  I 
have  had  the  pleasure  of  being  in  the  good  city  of  Buffalo  three  times 
before  this  visit.  I  came  here  in  1825,  with  my  family,  accompanied  by 
Justice  Story  and  his  family.  We  came  mainly  to  see  that  all-attractive 
neighbor  of  yours,  the  Falls  of  Niagara.  For,  gentlemen,  you  and  your 
posterity  will  never  be  without  a  distinguished  neighbor  in  your  vicinity. 
We  came  to  Buffalo.  I  remember  it  was  said,  at  that  time,  there  were 
2500  people  in  it.  (Laughter.)  Even  that  startled,  because  it  was  fresh 
in  my  recollection  when  it  was  only  a  waste,  and  when,  as  a  member  of 
Congress,  I  was  called  upon  to  ascertain  the  value  of  certain  houses 
which  were  destroyed  by  the  assaults  of  the  British.  I  came  here  after 
wards,  gentlemen,  in  1833.  Your  city  then  had  enlarged,  manufactories 
had  commenced,  prosperity  had  begun.  I  had  the  pleasure  of  address 
ing  you  or  your  fathers,  or  both,  in  the  Park,  and  I  remember  I  was  told, 
among  other  things,  that  I  might  say,  with  safety,  that  there  were  fifteen 
or  eighteen  steamboats  on  Lake  Erie.  (Laughter  and  applause.)  And 
I  remember  another  thing,  gentlemen,  and  I  hope  some  parties  to  that 
transaction  are  here. 

The  mechanics  of  Buffalo  did  me  the  great  honor,  of  tendering  to  me  a 
present  of  an  article  of  furniture,  made  from  a  great,  glorious  black-wal 
nut  tree,  which  grew  to  the  south  of  us.  They  signified  their  desire  to  make 
a  table  out  of  that  walnut  tree,  and  send  it  to  me.  The  table  was  made, 
and  I  accepted  it,  of  course,  with  great  pleasure.  When  I  left  here  in  July, 
the  tree  was  standing ;  and  in  about  five  weeks  there  was  an  elegant 
table,  of  beautiful  workmanship,  sent  to  my  house,  which  was  then  in 


23 

Boston.  When  I  went  to  Marshfield  it  followed  me  to  the  sea-side,  and 
there  it  stands  now  in  the  best  room  in  my  house,  and  there  it  will  stand 
as  long  as  I  live,  and  I  hope  as  long  as  the  house  shall  stand.  (Great  ap 
plause.)  And  I  take  this  occasion  to  reiterate  my  thanks  for  that  beau 
tiful  present.  (Applause.)  I  am  proud  to  show  it ;  I  am  proud  to 
possess  it ;  I  am  proud  in  all  the  recollections  that  it  suggests.  (Ap 
plause.)  I  was  again  in  Buffalo  some  fourteen  years  ago,  on  my 
return  from  the  West.  That,  I  think,  was  in  July  also.  I  left 
the  sea-coast  in  May.  It  was  soon  after  the  termination  of  General 
Jackson's  administration,  and  the  commencement  of  Mr.  Van  Buren's.  I 
recollect  I  traveled  by  the  way  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  and  Canals, 
and  so  on  to  the  Ohio  ;  and  I  was  on  the  Ohio  River,  I  think,  at  Wheel 
ing,  on  the  25th  of  May,  when  we  heard  of  the  failure  of  all  the  Banks, 
the  breaking  up  of  all  the  credit  of  the  country,  and  Mr.  Van  Buren's 
proclamation  for  an  extra  session  of  Congress.  That  rather  hastened 
our  progress.  I  went  by  the  way  of  Kentucky,  Missouri,  Illinois,  and 
had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  my  fellow-citizens  of  Buffalo  on  my  return. 
-Now,  gentlemen,  it  is  a  great  pleasure  for  me  to  say,  that  between  that 
time  and  the  present,  the  population  of  your  city  has  augmented  at  least 
one-half.  (Applause.)  And  here  is  Buffalo,  a  city  of  50,000  inhab 
itants. 

It  is,  undoubtedly,  one  of  the  wonders  of  the  age,  and  of  this  country. 
I  enjoy  it,  gentlemen,  with  a  degree  of  pleasure  inferior  only  to  your  own, 
because  we  are  of  the  same  country,  because  we  participate  in  the  same 
destiny,  and  because  we  are  bound  to  the  same  fate  for  good  or 
evil.  (Great  cheering.)  All  that  is  my  interest  is  your  -interest, 
at  least  I  feel  it  to  be  so  ;  and  there  is  not  in  this  region,  or  beyond 
the  Lakes,  a  city  planned,  a  tree  felled,  a  field  of  wheat  planted,  or  any 
other  mark  of  prosperity,  in  which  I,  for  one,  do  not  take  an  interest. 
But  then,  gentlemen,  one  thing  strikes  me.  You  are  all  a  young  race 
here.  (Cheers.)  Here  is  my  friend  near  me.  (Pointing  to  Hon.  Albert 
H.  Tracy.)  We  were  young  men  together.  It  seems  to  me  but  a 
short  time  ago,  and  here  we  are.  (Applause.)  Now,  who  do  I  see 
around  me  here  ?  Why,  the  rising  generation  have  taken  possession  of 
Buffalo.  (Applause.,)  Ye  fathers,  be  frightened  !  Ye  grandfathers,  be 
alarmed !  The  youth  of  Buffalo  have  taken  possession  of  the  city. 
(Applause.)  But  then,  you  unmarried  women  of  Buffalo,  and  you, 
young  wives  of  Buffalo,  be  neither  frightened  nor  alarmed  ;  for  those 
who  have  taken  possession  will  be  your  protectors.  (Laughter.)  And  I 
believe  that  this  is  true  throughout  the  whole  county  of  Erie.  The 
strong  arms  of  young  men  till  the  soil.  The  vigorous  resolution  which 
takes  hold  of  any  improvement,  and  sustains  every  public  project,  takes 
counsel,  no  doubt,  from  age  and  experience  ;  but  young  men  in  this  coun 
try  push  forward  everything  ;  complete  everything. 

Gentlemen,  I  need  not  say  that  this  great  neighborhood  of  yours,  and 
this  great  State  of  yours,  are  full  of  things  most  striking  to  the  eye  and  to 
the  imagination.  The  spectacle  which  your  State  presents  ;  the  waters 
of  New  York ;  the  natural  phenomena  of  New  York ;  are  exciting  to  a 
very  high  decree.  There  is  this  noble  river,  the  Niagara ;  the  noble 
Lake  from  which  it  issues ;  the  Falls  of  Niagara,  the  wonder  of  the 
world !  the  lakes  and  waters  of  a  secondary  class.  Why,  how  many 


24 

things  are  there  in  this  great  State  of  New  York,  that  attract  the  wonder 
and  draw  the  attention  of  Europe  ?  I  had  the  pleasure  of  being  a  few 
weeks  in  Europe,  and  every  one  asked  me,  how  long  it  took  to  go  to  Nia 
gara  Falls,  and  how  long  to  see  other  curiosities.  New  York,  in  all  its 
relations,  in  its  falls,  its  rivers,  and  secondary  waters,  is  attractive  to  all 
the  world.  But  then  there  is  New  York,  in  the  State  of  New  York. 
Gentlemen,  the  commercial  character  so  far  pervades  the  minds  of  com 
mercial  men  all  over  the  world,  that  there  are  many  men  who  are  very 
respectable  and  intelligent,  who  do  not  seem  to  know  there  is  any  part  of 
the  United  States  but  New  York.  (Laughter.)  I  was  in  England,  and 
when  I  was  there  it  was  asked  of  me,  if  I  did  not  come  from  New  York. 
(Great  laughter.)  I  told  them  my  wife  came  from  New  York.  (Contin 
ued  laughter.)  That  is  something.  (Great  laughter.)  Well,  gentlemen, 
I  had  the  honor,  one  day,  to  be  invited  to  a  State-dinner,  by  the  Lord 
Mayor  of  London.  He  was  a  portly  and  a  corpulent  gentleman. 
(Laughter.)  He  had  a  big  wig  on  his  head,  all  powdered  and  ribboned 
down  behind,  and  I  had  the  honor  to  sit  between  him  and  the  lady  May 
oress  ;  and  there  were  300  guests,  with  all  the  luxuries  and  gorgeousness 
of  the  Lord  Mayor's  dinner.  By  and  by,  in  the  course  of  the  proceed 
ings,  his  lordship  thought  proper,  soon  after  the  cloth  was  removed,  to 
take  notice  of  his  American  guest.  He  seemed  not  to  know  who  I  was. 
He  knew  I  was  a  Senator;  but  of  the  United  States  he  seemed  to  have 
but  little  idea  of  any  place  but  New  York.  (Laughter.) 

He  arose :  "  Gentlemen,"  said  he,  "  I  give  you  the  health  of  Mr. 
Webster,  a  member  of  the  upper  Senate  of  New  York."  (Great  out 
burst  of  Daughter.)  Well,  gentlemen,  it  was  a  great  honor  to  be  a  mem 
ber  of  any  Senate  of  New  York,  but  if  there  was  an  upper  Senate,  to  be 
a  member  of  that  would  be  a  great  honor,  indeed.  (Tremendous  laugh 
ter.)  Gentlemen,  New  York,  the  State  of  New  York,  let  me  indulge 
in  a  moment's  reflection  on  that  great  theme  !  It  has  so  happened  in  the 
dispensation  of  things,  that  New  York  stretches  from  boundary  to  boun 
dary,  through  our  whole  country.  Your  fellow-citizens,  to-day,  are  eat 
ing  clams  at  Montauk  Point,  700  miles  from  here,  and  you  are  regaling 
on  lake  trout.  You  stretch  along  and  divide  the  whole  country.  New 
York  stretches  from  the  frontier  of  Canada  to  the  sea.  New  York  di 
vides  the  Southern  States  from  the  Eastern.  Here  she  is  with  two  heads  ; 
one  down  at  New  York,  and  the  other  at  Buffalo,  like  a  double-headed 
snake,  and  there  she  lies.  Well,  what  are  you  to  do  with  her?  Fixed, 
firm  and  immovable,  there  she  is.  (Applause.)  It  has  pleased  God,  in 
assigning  her  a  position  in  the  configuration  of  the  earth's  surface,  to 
cause  her  to  divide  the  whole  South  from  the  East,  and  she  does  so.  phy 
sically  and  geographically.  As  she  stretches  here,  in  the  whole  length 
and  breadth,  she  divides  the  Southern  from  the  Eastern  States.  But, 
gentlemen,  that  is  her  inferior  destiny,  her  inferior  characteristic  ;  for,  if 
I  do  not  mistake  all  auguries,  her  higher  destiny  is  likewise  to  unite  all 
the  States  in  one  political  Union.  (Vociferous  applause  and  cheers.) 

Gentlemen,  nothing  so  fills  my  imagination,  or  comes  up  more  to  my 
idea  of  a  great,  enterprising,  and  energetic  State,  than  those  things  which 
have  been  accomplished  by  New  York,  connected  with  commerce  and  in 
ternal  improvements.  I  honor  you  for  it.  When  I  consider  that  your 
canal  runs  from  the  Lakes  to  tide-water;  when  I  consider  also  that  you 


25 

have  a  railroad  from  the  Lake  to  tide-water ;  and  when  I  examine,  as  I 
have  examined,  that  stupendous  work,  hung  up,  as  it  were,  in  the  air,  on  the 
southern  range  of  mountains  from  New  York  to  Lake  Erie ;  when  I  con 
sider  the  energy,  the  power,  the  indomitable  resolution  which  effected  all 
this,  I  bow  with  reverence  to  the  genius  and  people  of  New  York,  what 
ever  political  party  may  lead,  or  however  wrong  I  may  deem  any  of  them 
to  act  in  other  respects.  It  takes  care  of  itself,  it  is  true  to  itself,  it  is 
true  to  New  York ;  and  being  true  to  itself,  it  goes  far  in  establishing 
the  interest  of  the  whole  country,  in  my  opinion.  For  one,  I  wish  it  so 
to  proceed.  I  know  that  there  are  questions  of  a  local  and  State  charac 
ter  with  which  I  have  nothing  to  do.  I  know  there  is  a  proposition  to 
make  this  canal  of  yours  greater  and  broader,  if  I  may  say  so,  to  give 
to  New  York  and  its  commerce  more  power  to  let  out  what  it  has,  with 
greater  facility.  I  know  not  how  that  may  comport  with  State  politics 
or  State  arrangements,  but  I  shall  be  happy  to  see  the  day,  when  there 
shall  be  no  obstruction,  or  hindrance,  in  any  article  of  trade,  or  commerce, 
going  out  right,  straight  and  strong,  with  breadth  enough,  and  margin 
enough,  and  room  enough  to  carry  all  to  its  market.  May  I  say,  gentle 
men,  that  a  broad,  deep,  and  ample  canal  realizes,  and  more  than  realizes^ 
what  the  poet  has  said  of  the  River  Thames : 

"Oh,  could  I  flow  like  thee,  and  make  thy  stream 
My  great  example,  as  it  is  my  theme  ! 
Though  deep,  yet  clear,  though  gentle,  yet  not  dull, 
Strong  without  rage,  without  o'erflowing,  full." 

But,  gentlemen,  there  are  other  things  about  this  State  of  yours. 
You  are  here  at  the  foot  of  Lake  Erie.  You  look  out  on  the 
far  expanse  of  the  West.  Who  have  come  here  ?  Of  whom  are 
you  composed?  You  are  already  a  people  of  fifty  thousand,  a  larger 
population  than  that  of  any  New  England  city,  except  Boston  ;  and  yet 
you  are  but  of  yesterday.  What  is  your  population  ?  A  great  many  of 
them  are  my  countrymen,  and  I  see  them  with  pleasure ;  but  these  are 
not  all,  there  are  also  Irish  and  Germans.  I  suppose,  on  the  whole,  and 
in  the  main,  they  are  safe  citizens ;  at  any  rate,  they  appear  well  disposed, 
and  they  constitute  a  large  portion  of  your  population.  That  leads  us  to 
consider  generally  what  is  the  particular  position  of  our  country,  and  of 
your  city,  as  one  of  the  great  outlets  to  the  West,  in  regard  to  this  foreign 
immigration.  The  emigration  to  this  country  is  enormous— it  cornea 
from  Ireland,  Germany,  Switzerland,  &c.  I  remember  it  used  to  be  a 
simile,  when  anything  of  a  sudden  or  energetic  nature  took  place,  to  say 
that  it  "  broke  out  like  an  Irish  rebellion,  forty  thousand  strong,  when  no 
body  expected  it."  Forty  thousand  strong  does  not  begin  to  compare 
with  the  emigration  to  the  United  States.  Emigration  comes  here  with 
a  perfect  rush  from  every  part  of  Ireland  ;  from  Limerick  and  the  Shan 
non,  from  Dublin  and  from  Cork  ;  emigrants  come  also  from  the  Northern 
ports  from  Lon  londerry  and  Belfast,  and  here  they  are.  Into  this  coun 
try  they  come,  and  will  continue  to  come  ;  it  is  in  the  order  of  things,  and 
there  is  no  possibility  of  preventing  it.  Gentlemen,  it  is  about  three  centu 
ries  and  a  half  since  Columbus  discovered  America,  and  he  came  here  by 
authority  of  the  Spanish  Government.  He  gathered  up  some  gold,  and 
went  back  with  a  great  name.  It  is  a  much  shorter  time  since  the  Irish 


26 

discovered  America,  and  they  corce  in  much  greater  numbers ;  but  they 
don't  come  here  with  the  idea  of  carrying  back  money,  or  fame,  or  a  name, 
but  mean  to  live  here  forever.  They  come  to  remain  among  us,  and  to 
be  of  us,  and  to  take  their  chances  among  us.  Let  them  come. 

There  are  also  Germans.  Your  city,  I  am  told,  has  a  very  large  num 
ber  of  thrifty,  industrious  German  people.  Let  them  also  come.  If  His 
Majesty  of  Austria,  and  the  Austrian  Government,  will  allow  them  to 
come,  let  them  come.  (Great  applause.)  All  we  desire,  whosoever 
come,  is,  that  they  will  Americanize  themselves  ;  that,  forgetting  the 
things  that  are  behind,  they  will  look  forward  ;  and  if  they  look  as  far  as 
Iowa  and  Minnesota,  they  will  not  look  a  rod  too  far.  I  know  that 
many  from  Europe  come  here,  who  have  been  brought  up  to  different 
pursuits,  to  different  forms  of  application,  and  even  to  different  systems 
of  agriculture  ;  but,  as  a  general  thing,  I  believe  it  is  true,  that  when  they 
are  removed  from  the  temptations  of  the  cities  of  the  Atlantic  coast,  and 
when  they  get  into  regions,  where  trees  are  to  be  felled,  and  land  cleared, 
they  prove  themselves  worthy  and  respectable  citizens  ;  and,  perhaps, 
gentlemen,  you  will  excuse  me  if,  without  too  long  a  speech,  I  say  a  little 
relative  to  our  American  system  on  this  subject  of  foreign  emigration.  In 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  declared,  as  you  all  know,  on  the  4th 
of  July,  1776,  a  solemn  and  formal  complaint  is  made  against  the  British 
King,  that  he  sought  to  prevent  emigration  from  Europe  to  the  colonies, 
by  refusing  his  assent  to  reasonable  laws  of  naturalization,  by  reason  of 
which,  it  was  stated,  the  country  did  not  fill  up,  and  the  public  lands  were 
not  purchased.  It  is  worthy  the  attention  of  any  gentleman,  who  wishes 
to  acquaint  himself  with  the  early  history  of  the  country  in  this  respect, 
to  refer  back  to  the  naturalization  laws  passed  in  the  time  of  Washing 
ton.  Every  one  can  see  what  was  the  prevailing  idea  at  that  period.  The 
idea  of  encouraging  emigration  from  Europe  was  universal,  and  it  was  de 
sired  that  those,  who  wished  to  become  naturalized,  should  become  ac 
quainted  with  our  system  of  government  before  they  voted ;  that  they 
should  have  an  interest  in  the  country ;  that  they  might  not  be  led  away 
by  every  designing  demagogue.  At  that  day,  nobody  foresaw  such  de 
velopments,  and  such  enlargement  in  the  commerce  of  the  country,  as  we 
now  see  ;  and,  therefore,  in  the  early  periods  of  Washington's  administra 
tion,  they  were  looking  to  see  how  they  should  pay  the  debt  of  the  Re 
volution.  Whatever  we  may  think  of  it  now,  their  great  resource  to  pay 
their  debts  was,  as  they  thought,  the  public  domain.  They  had  obtained, 
before  the  Constitution  was  formed,  a  grant  of  the  Northwest  Terri 
tory,  which  was  known  to  be  capable  of  furnishing  great  products 
by  agricultural  labor.  The  Congress  of  that  day  looked  to  this. 
They  had  no  idea  how  sudden  would  be  the  great  increase  of  our  com 
merce,  or  how  plentiful  would  be  the  revenue  from  that  source ;  and, 
therefore,  their  main  resource  was  to  see  how  far  they  could  encourage 
foreign  emigration,  (which,  it  was  expected,  would  bring  capital  into  the. 
country,)  with  an  idea  of  such  a  conformity  with  our  American  system, 
and  to  American  institutions,  as  would  render  emigration  safe,  and  not 
dangerous  to  the  common  weal. 

Gentlemen,  we  are  not  arbiters  of  our  own  fate.  Human  foresight 
falters  and  fails.  Who  could  foresee  or  conjecture  at  that  day,  what 
our  eyes  now  see  and  behold  ?  We  see  this  for  good  or  for  evil.  Nor 


27 

could  we  stay  this  immigration  if  we  would.  We  see  there  is  a  rush  of 
people  from  Europe  to  America,  that  exceeds,  in  a  single  month,  and  at 
the  single  port  of  New  York,  the  population  of  many  single  cities  on  the 
Atlantic  coast.  This  is  the  case,  and  it  is  to  be  met  and  to  be  considered. 
It  would  be  foolish  to  attempt  to  obstruct  it,  if  obstruction  were  safe! 
The  thing  can't  be  done.  You  may  remember,  gentlemen,  (though  I  am 
too  modest  to  suppose  that  you  remember  much  about  it,)  that,  in  my 
correspondence  with  Lord  Ashburton,  who  came  out  here  to  negotiate 
the  Treaty  of  '42,  we  examined  the  subject  of  the  impressment  of  Ame 
rican  citizens.  Up  to  that  day,  England  had  insisted  on  the  right  to  visit 
every  American  ship  in  the  time  of  war,  and  if  she  found  any  English 
men,  Irishmen,  or  Welshmen  on  board  of  her,  to  press  them  into  her 
service,  on  the  ground  that  they  could  not  transfer  their  allegiance.  I 
need  not  say,  gentlemen,  that  this  subject  had  been  a  matter  of  negotiation. 
It  was,  at  one  time,  suggested  by  the  British  minister,  that  the  right  should 
be  exercised  only  in  certain  latitudes.  At  another  time  it  wassuggested,that 
this  right  should  not  be  extended  to  the  deprivation  of  any  American 
vessel  of  her  crew.  I  am  afraid,  or  ashamed,  gentlemen,  indeed  I  don't 
know  that  I  ought  to  say  it,  but  with  your  permission  I  will  say  it,  that 
on  that  occasion  it  was  decided  that  every  man  on  board  of  an  American 
vessel,  either  mercantile  or  naval,  was  protected  by  the  flag  of  America. 
(Tremendous  applause.)  No  matter  if  his  speech  did  betray  him ;  no 
matter  what  brogue  was  on  his  tongue  ;  if  the  stars  and  stripes  were  over 
him,  he  was  for  that  purpose,  while  on  board  an  American  vessel,  an  Ame 
rican  citizen.  (Cheers.)  Well,  gentlemen,  as  we  are  indulging  in  a 
sort  of  saturnalia,  and  as  we  are  talking  of  ourselves  a  little,  (cries  of 
"  Who  ?"  "  Go  on,")  let  me  say,  that  from  that  day  to  this,  we  have  heard 
of  no  pretensions  on  the  part  of  the  British  Government,  that  it  could 
send  an  officer  on  board  of  any  American  ship,  and  take  from  her  any 
human  being  whatever,  and  never  shall.  (Great  applause.) 

Lord  Ashburton,  with  whom  I  negotiated  and  corresponded  on  that 
occasion,  was  a  judicious  and  wise  man.  He  had  been  a  good  deal  in  this 
country.  He  was  married  in  this  country.  He  knew  something  of  this 
country ;  and  he  saw  various  relations  between  this  country  and  England 
in  a  far  more  philanthropical  point  of  view  than  most  others,  and  he 
stated  in  a  letter,  which  is  on  record  somewhere  :  "  I  must  admit  that 
when  a  British  subject,  Irish,  English,  or  Welsh,  becomes  an  American, 
and  claims  no  longer  the  protection  of  his  own  country,  his  own  country 
has  no  right  to  call  him  a  subject,  and  to  put  him  in  a  position  to  make 
war  on  his  adopted  country ;  and  it  appears  to  me,"  he  added,  "  that  we 
may  count  it  among  the  dispensations  of  Providence,  that  these  new  fa 
cilities  of  transporting  men  from  country  to  country,  by  the  power  of 
steam,  and  quickly,  are  designed  by  a  high  wisdom."  He  said,  "  We 
have  more  people  than  land,  and  you  have  more  land  than  people.  Take 
as  many  from  us  as  you  please,  or  as  please  to  come.  That  seems  to  be  the 
order  of  things  ;  and  it  is  not  to  be  stopped."  I  told  him  that  was  my  opi 
nion  too.  Gentlemen,  this  emigration  is  not  to  be  stopped  ;  we  must  keep 
things  as  they  are  ;  we  must  impress  all  who  come  here  with  the  necessity 
of  becoming  Americans.  We  must  teach  them  ;  we  must  endeavor  to  in 
still  American  sentiments  into  all  their  bosoms.  (Prolonged  Applause.) 
Gentlemen,  if  it  were  not  so  late  in  the  evening,  I  would  say  a  few 


28 

more  words  (cries  of "  Go  on,  Go  on ")  about  the  public  lands  of 
this  country,  and  the  best  disposition  to  be  made  of  them.  What  shall 
we  do  with  them  ?  They  amount  to  a  vast  extent  of  territory,  rich 
in  its  natural  fertility  ;  but  can  any  one  tell  me  what  is  the  value  of 
land  unconnected  with  cultivation  and  social  life  ?  A  thousand  acres 
would  not,  in  such  a  case,  be  of  the  value  of  a  dollar.  What  is  land 
worth  in  the  extreme  interior  ?  Land  is  a  theatre  for  the  application 
and  exhibition  of  human  labor ;  and  when  human  labor  goes  upon  it,  and 
is  exerted,  then  it  creates  its  value,  and  without  it,  it  is  not  worth 
a  rush,  from  "  Dan  to  Beersheba."  I  do  not  wish  to  say,  on  every  acre 
of  land  there  must  be  a  settlement;  but  there  must  be  human  labor  some 
where  near  it ;  there  must  be  something  besides  the  mathematical  divi 
sion  apportioning  it  into  sections,  half  sections,  and  quarter  sections,  be 
fore  land  is  of  any  value  whatever. 

But,  gentlemen,  we  have  had  a  series  of  wonderful  events  in  our  com 
mercial  relations.  The  commerce  of  the  country  is  filling  the  coffers  of 
the  country.  It  has  supplied,  and  now  supplies,  every  want  of  the  govern 
ment.  What,  then,  shall  we  do  with  the  public  lands  ?  During  the  last 
Congress,  acts  were  passed,  distributing  large  quantities  of  them,  varying 
from  160  acres,  or  more,  down  to  40  acres,  to  those  who  had  rendered 
military  service  to  the  country.  This  was  all  very  well;  nobody  goes 
further  than  I  do,  in  desiring  to  make  happy  those  who  have  borne  arms 
in  their  country's  cause,  as  well  as  their  widows  and  orphans  ;  but,  this 
does  not  appear  to  me  to  answer  the  exigencies  of  the  case.  What  is  to  be 
done  ?  What  is  to  become  of  those  who  come  to  this  country,  and  have 
nothing  to  buy  land  with  ?  That's  the  question,  gentlemen ;  the  last 
measure  proposed  by  me  while  in  the  last  Congress,  was  the  short  and 
simple  proposition,  that  every  man  of  twenty-one  years  of  age,  who 
would  go  on  any  uncultivated  land  in  the  country,  and  take  up  160  acres 
and  cultivate  it  for  five  years,  should  thereby  make  it  his  own,  and  there 
to  be  an  end  of  the  public  right ;  and  if  his  widow  and  children 
did  the  same,  they  should  have  it.  One  of  the  great'  evils  of  this 
military  bounty  business  is,  that  when  warrants  are  issued,  manage 
it  as  you  will,  they  fall  into  the  hands  of  speculators,  and  do  not 
accrue  to  those  whom  it  was  designed  to  benefit.  They  sell  for  a 
trifle,  and  they  fall  into  the  hands  of  speculators,  as  I  have  already 
stated.  Let  me  tell  you  an  anecdote  on  this  subject :  I  brought  forward 
this  matter  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  and  soon  afterwards  I 
received  a  letter  from  Europe,  stating  that  it  was  wrong  and  unjust,  be 
cause  it  would  interfere  with  the  rights  of  those  who  had  purchased  war- 
wants,  to  settle  on  the  public  lands,  as  a  matter  of  speculation.  (Laugh 
ter.)  I  wrote  back  that  it  was  just  the  thing  I  wished.  I  was  glad  it 
was  so,  and  I  had  desired  it  should  be  so.  My  proposition  was,  that  these 
lands  should  not  be  alienated ;  that  they  should  be  free  of  claims  for 
debt;  that  they  should  be  free  of  debt ;  that  they  should  not  be  transfera 
ble,  and  if  a  man  left  his  land  before  five  years,  he  should  lose  it. 

My  proposition  was,  that  the  lands  granted  under  it  should  not  be 
alienable  ;  should  not  be  subject  to  alienation  by  law  ;  that  a  man  enter 
ing  upon  should  stay  upon,  should  cultivate  it  for  five  years ;  or  if  he 
should  not  live,  then  his  wife  or  children  should  remain  upon  it,  for  the 
specified  term  of  five  years,  when  it  should  be  theirs  forever.  My  object 


29 

was  simply,  as  far  as  the  object  could  be  accomplished,  to  benefit  those  of 
the  Northern  States  who  were  landless,  and  the  thousands  of  the  South 
ern  States,  who  were  willing  to  toil  if  they  had  anything  of  their  own  to 
toil  upon.  It  was  to  benefit  the  emigrant,  by  giving  him  a  home  ;  to  let 
him  feel  that  he  had  a  homestead  ;  that  he  trod  upon  his  own  soil ;  that 
he  was  a  man,  a  freeholder.  On  his  own  good  behavior  he  must  rely 
to  make  up  all  else  to  which  he  would  aspire.  I  might  have  been  wrong 
in  my  opinions,  but  they  are  my  opinions  still ;  and  if  ever  an  opportu 
nity  is  given  me,  I  shall  endeavor  to  carry  them  out. 

Well,  gentlemen,  I  revert  once  more  to  your  great  State.  I  see  all  her 
works,  all  her  gigantic  improvements,  the  respectability  of  her  Govern 
ment.  I  hear  of  her  greatness  over  the  whole  world.  Your  merchants 
have  a  character  everywhere,  which  realizes  the  idea  of  my  youth  of  the 
character  of  a  British  merchant,  which  I  will  illustrate  by  an  anecdote. 
A  friend  of  mine,  in  the  days  of  the  French  Republic,  had  so  much  con 
fidence  in  the  men  who  stood  at  the  head  of  affairs,  that  he  invested 
largely  in  Assignats.  But  after  a  while  he  found  them  to  be  worthless. 
His  creditors  would  not  touch  them ;  and  there  they  were,  dead  upon  his 
hands.  One  day,  after  using  some  very  extravagant  language,  he  con 
cluded  by  saying,  "  that  if  he  were  traveling  in  the  deserts  of  Arabia,  and 
his  camel  should  kick  up  a  British  bill  of  exchange  out  of  the  sands,  it 
would  be  worth  ten  per  cent,  premium,  while  these  Government  Assig- 
nats  were  not  worth  a  farthing."  So  your  commercial  character  stands. 
Your  vessels  traverse  every  sea,  and  fill  all  the  rivers.  You  call  com 
merce  to  you,  and  she  comes.  You  call  her  from  the  vasty  deep,  and 
she  responds  to  your  call. 

But,  gentlemen,  I  will  conclude  by  offering  a  sentiment,  for  I  am  sure 
you  are  anxious  to  hear  from  others,  from  whom  I  have  too  long  de 
tained  you.  Permit  me  to  give 

The  State  of  New  York:  Not  the  envy,  but  the  admiration  of  her  sister 
States. 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  Mr.  Webster  was  greeted  throughout  with 
repeated  applause,  and  resumed  his  seat  amidst  long-continued  and  en 
thusiastic  cheers. 


30 


SPEECH  AT  SYRACUSE. 

FELLOW-CITIZENS  of  Syracuse,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  I  thank  you 
cordially  for*the  pains  you  have  taken  to  meet  together  this  afternoon, 
forming  so  broad  an  assemblage,  to  welcome  me  to  your  important  and 
growing  city  of  Syracuse. 

I  have  known  this  place,  by  occasional  visits,  for  many  years ;  some  of 
those  visits  were  made  before  you,  whose  happy  faces  I  see  before  me,  were 
born,  or  when  you  were  in  infancy.  I  have  watched  its  progress  with  in 
terest,  connected  as  it  has  been  with  the  interest  of  the  great  saline  pro 
duct  of  the  State,  and  as  the  capital  of  the  noble  County  of  Onondaga, 
which  I  have  always  regarded  with  admiration. 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  The  President  and  his  friends  wereinvited, 
three  weeks  ago,  to  attend  the  celebration  of  the  completion  of  that  great 
line  of  communication,  the  Erie  Railroad.  We  left  Washington  with  no 
other  purpose,  certainly  none  on  my  part,  than  to  perform  that  agreeable 
duty.  I  had  not  the  slightest  expectation  of  being  here,  nor  had 
I  the  slightest  idea,  or  wish,  of  being  called  upon  to  address  you, 
or  any  other  body  of  citizens  of  the  United  States,  upon  the  political 
topics  of  the  day. 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  my  time  of  life  for  such  public  discourses  and 
illustrations  may  be  considered  as  pretty  much  over.  There  is  a  time 
for  all  things,  and  there  has  been  a  time  when  it  was  not  unpleasant  to  me 
to  meet  masses  of  ladies  and  gentlemen  in  the  open  air,  and  to  speak  upon 
topics  which  were  not  disagreeable  to  them,  and  certainly  not  to  me.  But 
there  must  come  a  time,  as  we  advance  in  life  and  age,  when  what  we 
do  for  the  public  must  be  more  in  the  closet,  and  less  in  the  field. 

Nevertheless,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  a  large  number  of  the  people  of 
Syracuse  having  signified  to  me,  by  letter,  that  it  was  their  desire  that  I 
should  meet  them  to-day,  and  address  them  on  public  subjects,  as  far  as 
may  be  in  my  power,  I  gladly  conform  to  their  request. 

On  the  great  question  of  the  day,  my  fellow-citizens,  I  have  no  secrets. 
I  have  nothing  to  conceal  and  nothing  to  boast  of.  I  trust  that  all  of  you 
know  pretty  well  who  I  am,  and  what  I  am,  and  what  my  principles  of 
political  conduct  have  been  for  the  last  thirty  years.  '  They  are  not  likely 
to  be  changed ;  and  it  is  not  likely  that  any  earthly  inducement  will  pre 
vail  upon  me  to  depart  from  those  settled  notions  and  opinions  which  I 
imbibed  in  early  life,  which  I  have  followed  in  the  councils  of  this  coun 
try,  for  good  or  for  evil,  for  thirty  years,  and  the  correctness  of  which 
my  judgment  approves  more  and  more  every  day  of  my  life. 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen, — I  know  very  well  that  on  the  agitating  ques 
tions  of  the  present  day,  I  have  not  the  happiness  to  concur  with  all  the 
people  of  Syracuse,  or  the  county  of  Onondaga,  or  other  parts  of  the  State 
of  New  York.  I  know  there  are  varieties  of  sentiments,  and  I  know  the 
sources  of  that  disagreement.  Some  of  them  are  very  justifiable,  and 
some  of  them,  I  am  sorry  to  believe,  are  not  capable  of  much  defence. 


31 

But  I  know  there  are  differences  of  feel  ing  brought  about  by  differences 
of  association,  by  different  reading,  and  by  different  degrees  of  knowledge 
and  information  respecting  public  affairs. 

But,  since  I  am  requested  to  address  you,  you  must  take  from  me  the 
honest  sentiments  of  my  own  heart,  the  convictions  of  my  own  conscience. 
I  lay  no  claim  to  your  approval  of  my  views,  and  I  ask  no  favorable 
reception  of  them,  "farther  than  you  see  the  suggestions  I  make  to  you, 
are  worthy  of  your  regard."  You  are  here  in  the  centre,  the  very  centre 
of  the  greatest  State  in  the  Union,  the  place  where  frequently  assemble 
representatives  of  all  parties  and  all  views,  and  you  have  here  all  sorts  of 
sentiments  advanced,  all  sorts  of  doctrines  espoused,  and  you  have  a  very 
fair  opportunity  of  forming  a  judgment,  a  fair,  conscientious  judgment,  of 
all  great  questions  before  the  public. 

Now,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  it  is  a  matter  of  notoriety  all  the  world 
over,  and  especially  in  Syracuse,  that  the  origin  of  the  important  ques 
tions,  that  for  two  years  have  agitated  the  country,  is  the  condition  of  the 
Southern  States  in  respect  to  the  institution  of  slavery  in  those  States, 
and  the  rights  of  the  parties  connected  with  that  institution  in  the  Govern 
ment  under  which  we  live. 

You  cannot  state,  more  strongly  than  I  feel  to  be  true,  that  this  original, 
ancient,  unhappy  institution  of  the  slavery  of  the  African  races  in  the 
Southern  States,  is  forever  and  ever  to  be  deplored.  It  has  been,  in  the 
course  of  our  history,  as  much  deplored  by  the  Southern  States  as  by  our 
selves,  and,  to  sixty  years  ago,  was  more  deplored  by  them  than  by  us. 

When  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  was  adopted,  the  Northern 
people  did  not  feel  the  evils  of  slavery,  because  it  was  not  among  them  to 
any  great  or  growing  extent.  The  Southern  people  did  feel  the  evils,  be 
cause  it  was  among  them ;  and  they  all  thought,  and  all  said,  it  was  an  evil 
entailed  upon  them  by  the  British  Government,  for  which  they  were  full 
of  lamentation  and  regret,  and  if  they  knew  how  to  get  rid  of  it,  they 
would  embrace  any  reasonable  measure  to  accomplish  that  end. 

Such  were  the  feelings  and  such  the  opinions  of  the  principal  men  of 
the  South  ;  of  such  men  as  Chancellor  VVythe,  Jefferson,  Mason,  and 
other  leading  men  of  the  South,  who  were  concerned  in  the  forma 
tion  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  And  if  you,  young  men, 
will  look  into  the  history  of  those  times,  you  will  find  what  I  state  to 
be  true,  that  the  Southern  people  were  more  filled  with  regret  at  the  ex 
istence  of  slavery  than  the  Northern  people  were. 

The  thirteen  were  colonies  originally  of  English  origin,  coming  here  at 
different  times,  settling  along  the  coast  under  various  circumstances,  all 
united  by  a  common  origin,  found  themselves  oppressed  by  the  mother  coun 
try  in  75,  and  in  '76  they  declared  their  independence.  That  was  an  act 
of  Union;  it  was  a  united  act  of  the  thirteen  colonies  ;  it  was  that  united 
act  that  made  us  free  from  the  dominion  of  England ;  and,  united  under 
that  act,  the  colonies  fought  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  and  afterwards  es 
tablished  a  common  Government.  There  was  at  that  time  no  more  idea 
of  prohibiting  slavery  in  the  Southern  States,  than  there  was  of  introdu 
cing  it  into  the  Northern  States.  These  domestic  State  institutions,  and 
Stale  establishments,  were  considered  as  the  proper  subjects  for  the  legis 
lation  of  States  themselves. 

For  purposes  of  general  defence  and  general  welfare,  and  for  purpos 
of  commercial  equality,  and  similar  objects,  the  States  afterwards  agreed 


32 

to  become  one  government ;  and  as  to  all  the  rest,  it  was  expressly  agreed 
that  every  State  should  take  care  of  its  own  rights,  and  regulate  itself  in 
relation  thereto  at  its  own  discretion.  Upon  these  principles  we  came 
together  under  the  Constitution  which  was  then  adopted  ;  and  Washing 
ton,  unanimously  chosen  by  all  the  people,  was  our  first  President. 

That  was  before  your  day,  fellow-citizens,  and  before  mine,  but  it  is  a 
matter  of  history ;  and  from  it  you  know,  that  this  question  of  the  exist 
ence  of  slavery  in  the  Southern  States  never  became  an  agitating  subject 
for  more  than  fifty  years  afterwards.  For  more  than  fifty  years  the 
Northern  States  never  supposed  that  they  had  anything  to  do  with  it ; 
but,  in  process  of  time,  and  in  the  progress  of  things,  public  sentiment  has 
changed  at  the  North.  There  is  now  a  strong  and  animated,  sometimes 
an  enthusiastic,  and  sometimes  a  religious  feeling,  against  the  existence 
of  slavery  in  the  South.  But  persons  entertaining  such  feelings  and  sen 
timents,  as  I  think,  disregard  the  line  of  their  own  duties,  and  adventure 
upon  fields  which  are  utterly  forbidden. 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  there  are  in  this  country  Abolition  Societies 
and  Abolition  Presses  ;  and  it  is  no  new  thing  for  me  to  say,  for  I  said  it 
twenty  years  ago,  and  have  held  the  opinion  ever  since,  that,  in  my  opi 
nion,  all  these  things  have  prejudiced  the  condition  of  the  slave.  Twenty 
years  ago,  a  convention  of  the  whole  people  of  Virginia  was  held,  to  deli 
berate  on  changing  her  Constitution,  and  there  was  a  free  discussion  of 
the  policy  of  liberating  the  slaves,  and  of  gradual  emancipation.  The 
question  was  freely  and  openly  discussed,  and  there  was  no  fear,  no  re 
serve.  I  followed,  in  that  respect,  the  advice  of  Jefferson,  and  Madison, 
and  Marshall,  with  all  of  whom  I  have  conversed  upon  this  subject,  and 
all  of  whom  desired  to  see  a  way  in  which  the  gradual  emancipation  of  the 
slave  population  of  the  South  might  be  accomplished.  And  as  I  said, 
twenty  years  ago  that  question  was  freely  and  openly  discussed 
by  Marshall  and  other  persons  at  the  convention  called  by  the  peo 
ple  of  Virginia.  Everybody  knew  what  was  going  on,  and  it  was 
perfectly  safe  to  come  out  and  maintain,  as  a  general  proposition,  that  it 
would  be  for  the  benefit  of  the  South  to  provide  for  the  gradual  emanci 
pation  of  the  slaves. 

It  was  about  that  time  that  Abolition  Societies  were  established  in  New 
England,  and,  in  my  opinion,  they  have  done  nothing  but  mischief;  they 
have  riveted  the  chains  of  every  slave  in  the  Southern  States  ;  they  have 
made  their  masters  jealous  and  fearful,  and  postponed  far  and  far  the 
period  of  their  redemption.  This  is  my  judgment ;  it  may  not  be  yours. 

Well,  what  has  been  the  consequence  ?  We  have  had  occasions  in 
which,  in  our  political  system,  questions  have  arisen  on  the  extension  of 
slave  territory.  It  arose  in  the  case  of  Texas,  and  nobody  found  me 
then  voting  for  the  addition  of  one  foot  of  slave  territory  to  the  United 
States.  Ah  !  even  before  many  persons  who  now  shout  the  loudest  for 
liberty,  knew  what  liberty  was,  I  declared,  in  the  city  of  New  York  in 
1837,  (and  it  has  been  on  record  ever  since,  and  you  can  all  see  it,)  my 
fixed  purpose,  that,  under  no  circumstances,  and  under  the  pressure  of 
no  exigency,  would  I  agree  to  take  Texas  into  this  country  as  a  slave 
State,  or  a  slave  territory.  From  that  position  I  have  not  departed  ;  but 
our  good  representatives  in  the  Senate  and  in  the  House  of  Representa 
tives  from  the  State  of  New  York,  from  the  Empire  State,  voted  for  the 
admission  of  Texas,  while  I  resisted  it  in  vain. 


33 

I  state  it  not  as  a  reproach,  but  as  a  fact,  that  some  of  the  gentlemen 
from  New  York,  then  distinguished  in  the  houses  of  Congress,  in  spite  of 
all  I  could  say  or  do,  voted  to  bring  Texas,  as  she  was,  into  the  Union,  as 
a  slave  State,  and  with  the  solemn  stipulation  of  the  privilege  of  making 
out  of  herself  four  more  slave  States. 

What  are  they,  and  where  are  they  now  ?  They  are  Free  toilers  of 
the  first  water,  (applause,)  and  they  loudly  denounce  Mr.  Webster.  I 
believe  he  has  been  denounced  here.  Is  not  "this  Syracuse  ?  (Great  ap 
plause  and  laughter.)  I  believe  they  hold  conventions  here,  (laughter  ;) 
they  denounce  Webster  as  the  fit  associate  of  Benedict  Arnold;  and  Prof. 
Stuart,  Dr.  Spencer  and  Dr.  Lord,  and  Dr.  Dewey,  and  others  of  that 
stamp,  as  being  no  better.  (Laughter.)  I  would  be  glad  to  strike  out 
Benedict  Arnold  ;  as  for  the  rest,  I  am  proud  of  their  company. 

This  is  the  truth ;  and  before  the  throne  of  God,  and  before  the  tribu 
nal  of  an  intelligent  people,  there  is  nothing  valuable  but  truth,  truth, 
truth.  It  is  not  glossary  or  commentary,  that  is  valuable  ;  it  is  not  that 
thing  called  eloquence,  never  of  the  greatest  value,  and  often  mischiev 
ous  ;  but  it  is  that  which  can  stand  the  test  of  time  and  eternity  alone, 
truth, 

Now  it  is  truth,  that  from  my  earliest  introduction  into  public  life,  up 
to  the  present  time,  I  never  voted,  I  always  refused  to  vote,  for  the  ac 
quisition  of  one  inch  of  slave  territory  to  the  United  States.  (Great  ap 
plause.)  But  that  goes  for  nothing,  for  nothing. 

It  is  equally  true  that  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  in  so 
many  words,  declares  that  persons  bound  to  service  in  one  State,  under 
the  laws  thereof,  escaping  into  another,  shall  not  be  discharged  there 
from,  but  shall  be  delivered  up  to  the  person  to  whom  such  service  is  due. 

Now,  I  have  sworn,  again  and  again,  to  support  that  Constitution,  and 
so  has  every  person,  who  has  held  office  under  the  State  Government,  as 
solemnly  sworn  before  God  to  support  that  Government ;  that  is,  so  far 
as  depends  upon  him,  to  take  care  that  no  fugitive  from  labor,  coming 
into  a  free  State,  be  discharged  from  that  labor,  but  shall  be  restored. 

Well,  what  are  we  to  do,  then,  as  conscientious  persons  ?  How  are 
we  to  treat  this  matter  ?  Are  we  at  liberty  to  say  that  all  this  is  imagi 
nation,  all  nonsense,  and  we  will  do  as  we  please  ?  Shall  we  say  herein 
no  obligation  binding  on  our  conscience  ?  You  might  as  well  say  there- 
are  no  obligations  in  domestic  relations.  Our  political  duties  are  equally 
matters  of  conscience,  as  are  the  duties  arising  out  of  our  domestic  ties  - 
and  most  endearing  social  relations.  That  is  my  opinion. 

Now,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  I  would  wish  that  all  the  human  race,  of 
every  color,  were  as  happy  as  we  are,  and  as  capable  of  self-govern 
ment.  So  far  as  men  are  qualified  for  self-government ;  so  far  as 
they  are  happier  by  being  able  to  take  care  of  themselves,  so  much 
the  better.  But  we  are  to  consider  what  we  do,  and  we  are  not  to  rush  or 
under  the  influence  of  a  false  philanthropy  and  mistaken  humanity.  If  you 
satisfy  me  that  we  can  do  anything  for  the  benefit  of  the  southern  slave, 
constitutionally,  I  will  do  it.  I  have  said,  and  I  say  again,  I  would  vote  in 
Congress,  were  I  in  that  body,  to  restore  to  Virginia  all  the  public  lands 
the  General  Government  has  had  from  her,  and  all  the  proceeds  of  the 
same  up  to  this  time,  if  by  that  means  it  would  enable  her  to  provide  some 
way  for  the  emancipation  of  her  black  population.  Can  I  do  more  ?  Can 


34 

you  do  more  ?     And  if  we  cannot  do  that,  can  we  do  more  than  to  leave 
it  to  an  all-wise  Providence  to  bring  about  the  result  ? 

At  the  commencement  of  1850,  a  year  and  a  half  ago,  I  was  a  mem 
ber  of  Congress.  I  had  been  there  a  great  while,  perhaps  most  of  you 
think  quite  too  long,  (laughter,)  but  there  I  was.  We  had  acquired  these 
new  territories  from  Mexico,  all  against  my  wishes.  I  voted  against  each 
and  all  of  them.  California  had  no  attractions  for  me.  I  did  not 
wish  to  bring  into  this  government  the  agitating  question  about  the  fur 
ther  extension  of  slave  territory.  Your  Senators  from  New  York  did 
wish  it,  and  voted  for  it,  against  many  votes  of  Southern  gentlemen,  who 
felt  as  I  did,  and  who  wished  to  avoid  the  controversy.  Such  were  Ber- 
rien  and  Badger,  Southern  men.  Their  constituents  wished  them  to  vote 
for  bringing  in  the  new  acquisitions,  but  they  saw  the  evil  of  it,  and 
they  said,  No  !  and  voted  against  it.  But  the  Northern  States  voted  for 
it,  very  many  of  them,  New  York  and  Rhode  Island,  and  even  one-half 
of  Massachusetts. 

They  said  we  will  try  an  experiment.  Good  Heavens  !  try  an  experi 
ment  to  see  whether  it  will  dismember  the  Union  !  Make  an  acquisition 
which  may  destroy  it !  Try  an  experiment  upon  the  nation  with  as 
much  unconcern  as  we  try  an  experiment  in  chemistry  ! 

Well,  this  territory  came  in.  It  turned  out  as  I  foresaw.  I  will  not 
say  I  foresaw  the  whole  ;  I  foresaw  a  part. 

California  was  settled  by  a  rush  of  people  from  the  Northern  and 
Middle  States,  and  they  made  that  government  free  at  once.  So  far  so 
good.  She  came  in  as  a  State,  with  the  star  of  freedom  in  her  forehead, 
and  I  rejoice  at  it.  But  no  doubt  it  was  a  serious  disappointment  to  the 
Southern  people,  that  some  parts  of  California  were  not  set  apart  for 
slave  population  and  slave  culture. 

What  next  ?  There  were  those  two  territories  of  New  Mexico  and 
Utah,  and  a  great  conflict  arose  between  the  North  and  the  South,  whether 
the  Wilmot  Proviso  should  be  applied  to  New  Mexico. 

I  examined  that  subject ;  I  knew  it  was  distasteful  and  repugnant  to 
the  South  ;  and  I  asked  myself  whether  any  such  provision  was  necessa 
ry  ;  whether  in  the  course  of  human  events,  whether  in  the  geographical 
conformation  of  the  country,  and  the  habits  of  the  people,  there  was 
the  least  ground  to  suppose  that  New  Mexico  would  ever  be  a  slave 
country.  I  thought  there  was  not. 

I  thought  that  by  the  law  of  nature,  superior  to  all  the  Wilmot  Pro 
visos  the  world  ever  saw,  the  mountains  of  New  Mexico  must  sus 
tain  a  free  population.  Therefore  I  would  not  consent  merely  as  a  taunt 
ing  reproach,  to  apply  the  Wilmot  Proviso  to  the  mountains  of  New 
Mexico  ;  any  more  than  I  would  apply  it  to  the  Canadas. 

Well,  that  is  the  burden  of  my  offence.  But  throughout  New  York 
and  New  England,  this  refusal  to  apply  the  Wilmot  Proviso,  is  charged 
against  me  as  a  falsification  of  all  the  principles  of  liberty  I  have  sup 
ported  all  my  life. 

I  made  that  declaration  on  the  7th  of  March,  1850.     You   know  the 
sound  of  reproach  that  rang  through  the  whole  country ;  you  know  how 
Webster,  who  was  supposed  to  be  the  friend  of  liberty  and  of  the  Con 
stitution,  was  reviled,  everywhere,  for  his  departure  from  that  course. 
In  forty  days  from  the  time  I  made  that  speech,  and  expressed  my 


35 

opinion  that  it  was  not  necessary  to  have  a  controversy  with  the  South 
upon  that  subject,  because  the  law  of  nature  had  excluded  slavery  from 
New  Mexico,  the  people  of  New  Mexico  assembled  and  formed  a  consti 
tution  which  excluded  it  altogether. 

Now,  what  I  have  to  complain  of,  I  do  not  mean  to  complain  of  any 
thing  ;^  but  the  truth  is,  that  of  all  the  presses  in  Western  New  York  and 
New  England,  that  reviled  me  so  much  and  so  violently  for  affirming 
there  was  no  necessity  for  applying  the  Wilmot  Proviso  to 'New  Mexico, 
there  is  not  one  of  them  that  has  taken  back  the  charge,  when  they  saw 
the  truth  of  my  assertion  verified  by  facts.  Did  they  say  Webster  was 
right,  and  we  wrong  ?  No  ;  not  one  of  them. 

Now,  my  fellow-citizens,  at  the  commencement  of  the  year  1850  there 
was  a  general  agreement,  not  universal,  a  general  consent,  of  the  majority 
of  Congress  to  bring  in  California  under  her  Constitution  of  freedom. 
But  what  was  to  be  done  with  those  two  territories  ? 

And  there  was  still  a  more  vital  question.  You  know  Texas  accom 
plished  her  independence  by  her  revolution  against  Mexico  ;  and  after 
wards  by  her  Constitution,  as  she  said,  Texas  embraced  all  that  part  of 
the  country  commonly  called  New  Mexico,  lying  east  of  the  Rio  Grande. 
That  was  disputed.  I  do  not  say  Texas  was  right ;  but  that  was  her  claim. 
Then  we  had  admitted  Texas  in  '45,  without  any  statement  of  her 
boundaries.  When  she  came  into  the  Union,  under  the  law  of  '45, 
and  when  we  acquired  New  Mexico,  a  question  immediately  arose  as  to 
whom  New  Mexico,  east  of  the  Rio  Grande,  belonged ;  whether  to  the 
United  States  or  to  Texas.  This  was  very  much  a  matter  of  dispute. 
Now,  who  should  settle  this  question  ?  Texas  was  an  extreme  Southern 
State,  full  of  ardent  young  men,  ready  for  any  enterprise  for  what  they 
considered  the  support  of  their  rights ;  who  were  going  to  take  posses 
sion  by  force  of  arms,  of  what  they  thought  were  Texas  lands.  At  that 
time  there  were  six  or  seven  States  of  the  South  that  had  passed  resolu 
tions  of  separation,  or  leading  to  separation,  or  calling  conventions  to  con 
sider  the  question  of  separation,  and  some  of  whom  seemed  ready  to  take 
up  the  cause  of  Texas,  and  assist  in  enforcing  her  rights.  Such  was  the 
state  of  things. 

I  confess,  that  for  one,  I  thought  it  a  subject  of  the  greatest  importance, 
to  settle  this  question  of  the  Texas  boundary  by  a  just  compromise  ;  by 
any  fair  and  equal  arrangement,  so  that  the  peace  of  the  country  might 
be  preserved.  Without  going  more  at  length  into  the  matter  now, 
I  wish  to  say,  that  in  my  opinion,  there  was  great  danger  of  civil  war. 
From  the  condition  of  Texas  herself,  and  considering  the  thousands  upon 
thousands  of  persons  in  the  Southern  States,  who  were  only  waiting  an 
opportunity  to  make  an  outbreak,  and  were  ready  to  join  the  standard  of 
Texas,  which  would  give  them  the  chance  for  military  display ;  I  say 
there  was  the  greatest  danger  of  civil  war. 

I  know  very  well,  had  Texas  taken  the  first  step,  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  would  easily  have  subdued  her.  As  a  military 
matter,  it  was  easy  to  foresee  that  result.  But  then  as  a  political 
matter,  as  a  matter  connected  with  the  view  which  the  statesman  should 
take  of  it,  who  can  see  the  result  of  the  shedding  of  blood  by  the  Govern 
ment? 

I  thought,  therefore,  and  think  still,  that  «yery  reasonable  sacrifice 


36 

that  could  be  made,  to  settle  the  boundary  of  Texas,  and  to  take  away  the 
topic  of  disunion  from  among  us,  should  be  made. 

But  there  remained  other  matters.  I  thought  there  ought  to  be  a 
proper  government  for  Utah  and  New  Mexico.  We  have  in  all  such 
cases,  heretofore,  established  a  territorial  government.  We  did  establish 
it,  and  that  was  one  of  the  measures  of  that  Congress,  and  in  my  opinion 
a  very  proper  one. 

And  this  leads  us  to  the  consideration  of  the  question  of  the  enact 
ment  of  what  is  called  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law.  I  have  said  that  you 
and  I  are  not  responsible  for  the  existence  of  slavery  in  the  South, 
no  more  than  in  the  Island  of  Cuba,  and  we  have  no  more  to  do  with  the 
one  than  the  other.  It  is  as  far  removed  from  all  your  political  duties, 
and  my  political  duties,  as  the  slaves  in  the  West  India  Islands.  Well, 
here  they  are,  and  here  is  an  original  compact  of  the  States,  that  persons, 
bound  to  service  or  labor  in  one  State,  escaping  into  another,  shall  not 
be  discharged,  but  be  returned. 

Now,  in  General  Washington's  time,  in  1793,  Congress  passed  an  act 
for  carrying  this  part  of  the  Constitution  into  effect.  It  was  thought 
wise  at  the  time  to  leave  the  execution  of  that  law  pretty  much  in  the 
hands  of  State  tribunals ;  State  magistrates,  and  officers  and  judges 
were  authorized  to  execute  that  law.  It  was  so  administered  for  fifty 
years,  and  nobody  complained  of  it.  Things  went  on  until  this  new  ex 
citement  of  the  slavery  question,  this  abolition  question,  was  brought  up, 
and  then  some  of  the  States,  Massachusetts,  and  others,  enacted  laws 
making  it  penal  to  execute  this  law  of  Congress. 

Then  the  statute  became  a  dead  letter  in  this  part  of  it ;  when,  of 
course,  it  became  a  matter  of  necessity  to  provide  for  the  execution  of 
this  Constitutional  enactment  by  the  authority  of  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  or  give  it  up  altogether.  Well,  I  made  no  question  my 
self,  that  if  we  meant  to  fulfil  the  contract  of  the  Constitution,  if  we  meant 
to  be  honest,  it  was  our  duty  to  make  a  provision,  which,  by  the  authority 
of  the  Government  itself,  should  carry  into  execution  the  provisions  of 
that  Constitution.  And  that  is  the  origin  of  the  present  Fugitive  Slave 
Law. 

I  do  not  say  the  law  is  perfect.  I  proposed  some  amendments 
to  it,  but  was  called  from  the  Senate  before  it  was  adjusted. 

The  law  passed,  and  I  have  not  yet  heard  the  man  whose  opinion  is 
worth  a  sixpence,  who  has  said  that  that  law  is  not  perfectly  constitu 
tional.  The  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  of  New 
York,  of  Massachusetts,  all  say  the  law  is  a  constitutional  one,  passed  in 
perfect  conformity  to  the  requirements  of  the  Constitution.  What  then  ? 
Is  it  not  to  be  obeyed  ?  Are  not  th»se  who  are  sworn  to  obey  the  Con 
stitution,  to  enforce  that  law  ?  Is  it  not  a  matter  of  conscience,  of  con 
science  ? 

But  what  do  we  hear?  We  hear  of  persons  assembling  in  Massachu 
setts  and  New  York,  who  set  up  themselves  over  the  Constitution,  above 
the  law,  and  above  the  decisions  of  the  highest  tribunals,  and  who  say 
this  law  shall  not  be  carried  into  effect.  You  have  heard  it  here,  have 
you  not?  Has  it  not  been  so  said  in  the  county  of  Onondaga?  (Cries  of 
Yes,  yes.)  And  have  they  not  pledged  their  lives,  their  fortunes,  and 
their  sacred  honor  to  defeat  its  execution  ?  Pledged  tjieir  lives,  their 


37 

fortunes,  and  sacred  honor !  for  what  ?  For  the  violation  of  the  law,  for 
the  committal  of  treason  to  the  country ;  for  it  is  treason,  and  nothing 
else.  (Great  applause.) 

I  am  a  lawyer,  and  I  value  my  reputation  as  a  lawyer,  and  I  tell  you, 
if  men  get  together  and  declare  a  law  of  Congress  shall  not  be  executed 
in  any  case,  and  assemble  in  numbers  and  force  to  prevent  the  execution 
of  such  law,  they  are  traitors,  and  are  guilty  of  treason,  and  bring  upon 
themselves  the  penalties  of  that  crime. 

No  !  no  !  It  is  time  to  put  an  end  to  this  imposition  upon  good  citi 
zens,  good  men  and  good  women.  It  is  treason,  treason,  TREASON,  and 
nothing  else,  (cheers,)  and  if  they  do  not  incur  the  penalties  of  treason,  it 
is  owing  to  the  clemency  of  the  law's  administration,  and  to  no  merit  of 
their  own. 

Who  and  what  are  these  men  ?  I  am  assured  some  of  them  are  cler 
gymen,  and  some,  I  am  sorry  to  say  it,  are  lawyers,  and  who  the  rest  are, 
L  know  not. 

They  say  the  law  will  not  be  executed.  Let  them  take  care,  for  those 
are  pretty  bold  assertions.  The  law  must  be  executed,  not  only  in  carry 
ing  back  the  slave,  but  against  those  guilty  of  treasonable  practices  in 
resisting  its  execution. 

Depend  upon  it,  the  law  will  be  executed  in  its  spirit,  and  to  its  letter. 
(Great  applause.)  It  will  be  executed  in  all  the  great  cities  ;  here  in 
Syracuse  ;  in  the  midst  of  the  next  Anti-slavery  Convention,  if  the  oc 
casion  shall  arise ;  then  we  shall  see  what  becomes  of  their  lives  and 
their  sacred  honor.  (Tremendous  cheering.) 

Do  not  debauch  your  own  understandings,  your  own  judgments ;  do 
not  render  ridiculous  your  own  sympathy,  humanity  and  philanthropy, 
by  any  such  ideas. 

The  course  of  your  duty  towards  all  that  are  in  bondage  within  your 
power  and  influence,  is  plain.  Happily  the  teaching  of  the  sacred  book, 
which  is  our  guide,  instructs  us  in  that  matter.  What  we  can  do,  we 
will  do,  to  let  the  oppressed  go  free,  to  succor  the  distressed,  and  to  visit 
the  prisoner  in  affliction.  We  must  do  our  duty,  and  we  must  content 
ourselves  with  acting  conscientiously  in  that  sphere  of  life  in  which  we 
are  placed ;  politicians  in  their  sphere,  individuals  in  their  sphere,  and 
all  of  us  under  the  deep,  earnest  sense  of  obligation  that  our  Creator  has 
impressed  upon  us. 

It  is  not  unfrequently  said  by  a  class  of  men  to  whom  I  have  referred, 
that  the  Constitution  is  born  of  hell ;  that  it  was  the  work  of  the  devil ; 
and  that  Washington  was  a  miserable  blood-hound,  set  upon  the  track 
of  the  African  slave.  How  far  these  words  differ  from  words  that  have 
saluted  your  ears  within  yonder  hall,  you  will  judge. 

Men  who  utter  such  sentiments  are  ready  at  any  moment  to  destroy 
the  charter  of  all  your  liberties,  of  all  your  happiness,  and  of  all  your 
hope.  They  are  either  insane,  or  fatally  bent  on  mischief. 

The  question  is,  therefore,  whether  we  will  sustain  the  government 
under  which  we  live  ;  whether  we  will  do  justice  to  the  Southern  States, 
that  they  may  have  no  excuse  for  going  out  of  the  Union, 
are  any  that  will  not  consent  that  the  South  shall  have  a  fair  hearing,  a 
fair  trial,  a  fair  decision  upon  what  they  think  the  Constitution  se 
to  them,  I  am  not  of  that  number. 


38 

Everybody  knows  that  I  am  a  Northern  man,  born  in  the  extreme 
North,  bred  and  brought  up  in  notions  altogether  irreconcilable  to  human 
slavery,  and  why  should  I  have  any  sentiments  in  common  with  the 
South  on  that  subject  ? 

But  when  it  is  put  to  me  as  a  public  man,  whether  the  people  of  the 
South,  under  the  stipulations  of  this  Constitution,  have  not  the  right  of  a 
fair  law  from  Congress  for  returning  to  them  the  fugitive  slave,  I  say 
they  have ;  and  I  could  not  say  otherwise. 

Ladies  and  gentlemen,  you  will  pardon  me  for  the  gravity  of  these 
remarks.  I  had  rather  talk  with  you  in  private  or  public  on  other  sub 
jects  ;  upon  the  prosperity  and  happiness  we  all  enjoy ;  upon  the  growth 
of  this  beautiful  part  of  New  York;  and  in  short  upon  anything, 
rather  than  upon  the  fugitive  slave  law,  or  Texas  or  New  Mexico ;  but 
I  came  here  at  the  solicitation  of  the  people  of  your  city,  to  speak  upon 
public  topics.  You  will  accept  my  thanks  for  the  kind  manner  in  which 
you  have  been  pleased  to  receive  me,  and  I  wish  you  and  your  families 
all,  life,  happiness  and  prosperity. 


MR.  WEBSTER'S  SPEECH 


THE  DINNER  GIVEN  HIM  AT  SYRACUSE. 

B.  DAVIS  NOXON,  Esq.,  gave  the  following  toast : 

"  The  Constitution  and  its  greatest  Expounder  ;  the  Union  and  its  ablest  De 
fender." 

MR.  WEBSTER  arose,  amid  great  applause,  to  reply. 

I  am  happy  to  meet  you,  and  to  enjoy  this  quiet,  social  and  agreeable 
dinner  with  you.  Mr.  Noxon  has  done  me  too  much  honor,  to  allude  to 
me  in  the  terms  which  he  has  chosen,  in  connecting  my  services  with  the 
Constitution  of  the  country,  and  the  Union. 

It  has  so  happened,  that  all  the  public  services  which  I  have  rendered 
in  the  world,  in  my  day  and  generation,  have  been  connected  with  the 
General  Government.  I  think  I  ought  to  make  an  exception.  I  was  ten 
days  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  Legislature,  (laughter,)  and  I  turned 
my  thoughts  to  the  search  of  some  good  object  in  which  I  could  be  useful 
in  that  position ;  and,  after  much  reflection,  I  introduced  a  bill  which, 
with  the  general  consent  of  both  houses  of  the  Massachusetts  Legislature, 
passed  into  a  law,  and  is  now  a  law  of  the  State,  which  enacts  that  no 
man  in  the  State  shall  catch  trout  in  any  other  manner  than  in  the  old 
way  with  an  ordinary  hook  and  line.  (Great  laughter.)  With  that  ex 
ception,  I  never  was  connected,1 for  an  hour,  with  any  State  Government, 
in  my  life.  I  never  held  office,  high  or  low,  under  any  State  Govern 
ment.  Perhaps  that  was  my  misfortune. 


39 

At  the  age  of  thirty,  I  was  in  New  Hampshire,  practising  law,  and  had 
some  clients.  John  Taylor  Oilman,  who,  for  fourteen  years,  was  Gov- 
erner  of  the  State,  thought  that,  a  young  man  as  I  was,  I  might  be  fit  to 
be  an  Attorney  General  of  the  State  of  New  Hampshire,  and  he  nomi 
nated  me  to  the  Council ;  and  the  Council  taking  it  into  their  deep  con 
sideration,  and  not  happening  to  be  of  the  same  politics  as  the  Governor 
and  myself,  voted,  three  out  of  five,  that  I  was  not  competent,  and  very 
likely  they  were  right.  (Laughter.)  So,  you  see,  gentlemen,  I  never 
gained  promotion  in  any  State  Government. 

Gentlemen,  to  be  serious,  my  life  has  been  a  life  of  severe  labor  in  my 
profession,  and  all  the  portion  I  could  spare  of  that  labor,  from  the  sup 
port  of  my  family  and  myself,  has  been  devoted  to  the  consideration  of 
subjects  connected  with  the  general  history  of  the  country  ;  the  Constitu 
tion  of  the  country ;  the  confederation  out  of  which  the  Constitution  arose ; 
the  history  of  all  the  Congresses  which  have  assembled  before  and 
since  the  formation  of  that  Constitution  ;  and,  in  short,  if  I  have  learned 
anything,  or  know  anything,  (and  I  admit  that  it  is  very  little,)  what  I  do 
know,  and  what  I  do  understand,  as  far  as  I  understand  anything,  is  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  the  history  of  its  formation,  and  the  his 
tory  of  its  administration  under  General  Washington,  and  from  that  time 
down  to  this. 

I  sometimes,  gentlemen,  draw  around  me  a  sort  of  presentation  of  cha 
racters  and  persons  who  composed  the  first  administration  of  Washing 
ton.  I  like  to  look  back,  I  like  to  re-ascend  to  those  original  fountains,  and 
drink  in  their  pure  waters.  There  is  nothing  that  strikes  my  judgment, 
and  my  feelings,  stronger  than  to  go  back  to  New  York  in  April,  '89. 

General  Washington  had  been  elected  President.  So  uncertain  was 
it,  then,  what  would  be  the  success  of  the  new  government,  that  the  4th 
of  March  went  by  four  weeks  before  there  was  a  quorum  of  either  branch 
of  Congress.  And  I  have  seen  several  original  letters,  addressed  to 
members  of  Congress,  urging  them  to  come  on,  to  form  a  government. 

Many  of  the  choice  spirit?,  and  all  the  eminent  men  that  he  had  known 
through  the  period  of  the  Revolution,  staunch,  good,  strong  men,  disciplined, 
tried  in  the  great  school  of  adversity,  were  there.  There  was  Ham 
ilton,  a  marvel,  a  perfect  marvel ;  young,  a  man  almost  self-educated,  a 
man  of  intuitive  genius  ;  for  nobody  knows  when  or  where  he  obtained 
the  learning,  the  knowledge  which  distinguished  him  at  so  early  a  period. 

General  Washington  saw  he  was  fit  to  be  placed  at  the  head  of  the 
finances  of  the  government;  a  great  post,  which  was  to  decide  whether 
the  government  could  go  on  or  not ;  because  the  country  was  poor,  and 
the  Congress  of  the  country  was  untried.  At  that  time,  there  was  no 
general  flag,  no  law  regulating  commerce  ;  and  the  question  was,  whether 
any  revenue  could  be  derived  from  it. 

And  then  there  was  Gen.  Henry  Knox,  who  in  September  was  placed 
at  the  head  of  the  War  Department,  a  good  soldier.  In  the  same 
month,  Washington  placed  John  Jay  at  the  head  of  the  Judiciary  ; 
that  gave  confidence  to  the  courts  of  the  United  States.  No  man  ever 
ascended  the  bench  of  justice  with  a  purer  and  higher  character  than  John 
Jay.  Afterwards,  he  sent  him  on  a  most  important  mission  to  England, 
and  placed  in  that  station  Ellsworth,  of  Connecticut.  He  invited  Jeffer 
son,  though  not  in  the  country,  to  become  Secretary  of  State.  In  short 
if  one  might  draw  before  him  now  the  scene  as  it  existed  when  Washing- 


40 

ton  was  inaugurated,  and  see  his  sedate  and  serene  manner,  a  manner 
which  to  some,  perhaps,  seemed  austere  ;  and  if  we  could  have  him  be 
fore  us  this  day,  and  look  at  him  as  he  sat  in  his  first  Cabinet,  it  would 
make  one  of  the  most  striking  historical  pictures  that  could  be  committed 
to  canvas.  But  we  go  further  back,  to  '74 ;  '74  is  the  great  era  in  our 
history,  the  time  of  the  meeting  of  the  first  Congress  in  Philadelphia. 

And  those  remarkable  papers  that  distinguished  that  Congress,  and 
especially  that  capital  paper  addressed  to  England,  by  John  Jay  !  There 
we  see  the  great  basis  of  that  popular  system  which  our  fathers  main 
tained  through  the  Revolution,  and  which  constitutes  the  basis  of  the 
present  systems  of  government  in  the  United  States. 

Well,  they  fought  through  the  Revolution ;  they  came  out  conquerors, 
and  peace  took  place  in  '83.  Now,  allow  me  to  say  that  there  is  no  more 
interesting  period  in  our  history,  than  that  which  ensued  between  the 
peace  of  '83  and  the  establishment  of  this  Government. 

The  States  were  all  separate,  all  poor ;  none  had  any  commerce.  There 
was  the  debt  of  the  Revolution  unpaid,  millions  upon  millions  ;  and  the 
government  then  existing  could  not  lay  any  tax,  and  could  not  collect  any 
duties. 

Of  all  periods  in  our  history,  if  you,  young  men,  will  study  it,  if  those 
who  hope  to  be  distinguished  in  the  history  of  our  country  hereafter  will 
study  it,  that  portion,  from  the  peace  of  '83  to  the  establishment  of  this 
Government,  is  fullest  of  instruction. 

Then  it  was  that  the  ceaseless  activity  of  Hamilton  and  Madison  exhi 
bited  itself.  They  were  the  two  great  motive  powers,  the  one  north, 
the  other  south.  Hamilton  was  ten  years  the  younger,  but  he  was  the 
elder  in  everything  but  years,  and  Madison  followed  him  in  matters  of 
the  highest  moment. 

If,  gentlemen,  you  should  have  occasion  to  recur  to  the  reports  of  Con 
gress,  in  '83,  upon  the  necessity  of  such  a  government  as  could  lay  uni 
form  duties,  and  make  a  uniform  commerce,  and  establish  a  uniform  go 
vernment,  so  that  there  should  be  the  one  and  the  same  commerce  in  Mas 
sachusetts  and  in  Virginia,  there  you  will  see  all  the  elements  laid  down. 

It  is  in  these  pursuits,  and  in  the  study  of  these  questions,  that  I  have, 
perhaps,  devoted  more  of  my  time  than  a  more  strict  regard  to  myself 
and  my  family  would  justify.  But  I  must  confess  they  have  been  the 
pursuits  of  my  life. 

Then  we  arrive  at  the  assembly  of  gentlemen  from  several  of  the 
States,  in  '86.  There  were  Madison  and  Hamilton,  and  a  few  others, 
twelve  in  all,  I  think,  whose  object  was  to  bring  the  States  to  the  same 
conclusion,  that  goods  imported  should  pay  a  uniform  duty. 

After  a  session  of  two  weeks,  they  concluded  to  recommend  the  calling 
of  a  convention  to  make  a  constitution  of  government  for  the  whole  United 
States.  That  recommendation  was  sent  to  the  old  Congress,  and  by  them 
transmitted  to  the  States.  And  in  May,  1787,  the  convention  that  formed 
the  present  Constitution  met  in  Philadelphia. 

So  the  formation  of  the  Constitution  went  on  by  slow  degrees,  and  wise 
and  experienced  public  men  came  to  the  conclusion  that  these  States 
could  not  be  prosperous  without  a  General  Government,  and  that  Govern 
ment  founded  upon  the  principle  of  a  Union  in  things  common  and  gene 
ral  to  all,  and  the  States  power  and  authority  reserved  wherever  the 
general  Union,  and  the  purposes  of  it,  did  not  require  an  interference. 


41 

These  things  are  all  historical.  It  is  in  the  nature  of  things  that  men  go 
on  from  step  to  step,  according  to  the  exigency  of  the  case  They  found 
a  Union  was  necessary,  a  common  commercial  system  necessary  -  and  al 
these  things  were  provided  for  in  the  Constitution  under  which  we  live 
It  we  look  at  it,  we  shall  see  it  is  a  matter  of  compromise  and  agreement 
from  first  to  last  The  Northern  States  were  commercial,  and  what  had 
they  to  gam?  They  had  to  gain  a  protected  commerce  abroad,  and  an 
exclusive  right  of  the  coasting  trade,  and  of  the  domestic  trade  of  the 
country,  as  against  foreign  influences.  The  South  yielded  all  that  They 
agreed  to  place  in  Congress  the  entire  control  over  the  commerce  of  the 
country,  both  domestic  and  foreign.  And  therefore  we  all  know  that  the 
first  Congress  that  ever  assembled,  placed  the  entire  coasting  trade  of  the 
country  in  American  hands.  Foreign  ships  could  not,  after  that,  trade  be 
tween  Boston  and  Virginia.  And  at  that  day  the  commerce  was  mostly 
New  England  and  New  York  commerce,  and  so  it  has  remained  to  this 
day.  ^  And  now  it  employs  a  vast  tonnage  and  thousands  of  ships.  And 
all  of  it,  from  Maine  to  California,  is  confined  to  American  vessels.  No 
foreigner  interferes.  They  could  carry  much  cheaper  and  be  more  use 
ful  to  Southern  consumers  ;  for  it  is  a  fact  that  the  vessels  of  Northern 
Europe,  of  Sweden,  and  the  Hanse  Towns,  navigate  the  seas  cheaper 
than  we  can,  because  they  do  not  pay  so  much  wages  to  their  hands  as 
we  do,  nor  feed  them  so  well. 

All  this  is  preserved,  and  preserved  under  this  Constitution,  to  the  com 
mercial  interests  of  the  North.     Well,  this  is  the  great  boon  which  my 
country  of  New  England  and  yours  of  New  York  has  received  from  the 
Government.     It  has  carried  a  common  flag  all  over  the  world. 
Then  the  Constitution  went  on  to  declare  other  things. 
In  the  first  place,  it  placed  the  foreign  relations  of  the  country  in  a 
right  position.     In  the  next  place,  it  regulated  uniform  duties,  and  that 
was  of  the  utmost  importance.      Why  ?     There  was  the  little  State  of 
Delaware  that  had  a  good  port  of  entry,  and  Rhode  Island  which  had  an 
admirable  port  of  entry.     The  State  of  Rhode  Island  had  the  power  of 
assessing  duties  high  or  low,  as  she  saw  fit,  and  by  underbidding  the  State 
of  New  York  and  Massachusetts,  could  support  her  government,  and  edu 
cate  all  the  children   in  the  State  besides,  from  her  revenues.     While 
Rhode  Isbnd  was  out  of  the  General  Government,  the  State  could  regu 
late   the  duties  of  imports  into  Newport,  and  could  so  underbid  the  State 
of  Massachusetts,  as  to  raise  enough  to  maintain  its  whole  government. 
It  was,  therefore,  a  great  sacrifice  to  give  up  what  was,  in  fact,  a  subsist 
ence,  and  come  in  under  a  general  system.     But  it  was  done.     The  North 
and  South  all  agreed  to  it.     That  is  what  has  made  New  York,  Philadel 
phia,  and  Boston.     Gentlemen,  there  were  compromises  on  both  sides, 
but  of  that  I  have  said  enough  to-day,  as  regards  Southern  rights  acquired 
under  the  Constitution.     Then,  gentlemen,  there  is  a  larger  view  of  this 
matter,  a  national  view.     We  were  no  nation  before  '89.     We  had  no 
flag,  and  there  was  no  power  in  Europe  that  would  treat  with  any  State, 
nor  had  any  State  any  treaty  with  any  foreign  power. 

It  was  only  when  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  had  been 
adopted;  when  the  Government  was  organized  under  it,  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  in  April,  '89  ;  when  laws  were  made,  imposing  uniform  duties  in 
every  port ;  when  there  was  a  common  flag,  a  common  authority ;  it  was 
then,  and  only  then,  that  we  became  a  nation  such  as  we  now  are.  If 


42 

there  is  any  man  more  conversant  with  history  than  I  am,  who  can  find 
out  any  records,  ancient  or  modern,  who  can  refer  to  anything  that  has 
occurred  since  the  flood,  so  illustrative  of  the  power  of  a  great,  united 
government,  as  our  own  history  has  shown,  I  should  be  glad  to  see  it. 
Whether  it  be  poetry,  or  fiction,  or  imagination,  I  defy  any  man  to  pro 
duce  anything  equal  to  it  from  any  source. 

And  I  may  say,  in  consequence  of  the  allusion  which  has  been  made  to 
me,  that  it  has  been  in  the  study  of  these  topics,  of  the  principles  of  this 
Constitution,  of  the  manner  of  its  administration,  that  I  have  spent  all  that 
part  of  my  life,  not  now  a  short  one,  which  I  could  spare  from  the  severe 
duties  of  my  profession ;  and  I  must  say,  gentlemen,  that  I  go  back  every 
day  of  my  life  to  the  model  of  Washington's  administration.  And  I  say 
to  you  here  to-night,  were  I  to  draw  the  character  of  a  President,  such  as 
Washington,  were  he  on  earth,  would  approve,  Washington  himself  should 
stand  before  me,  and  I  would  copy  his  master-strokes  and  imitate  his  de 
signs.  (Great  applause.) 

It  was  a  marvel,  a  perfect  marvel,  for  a  man  to  come  up  to  the  civil 
government  from  the  head  of  our  armies,  who  possessed  so  much  modera 
tion,  so  much  caution,  so  much  wisdom  and  firmness,  and  who  at  once 
entered  upon  the  civil  administration  of  the  government  with  so  much 
prudence,  and  in  a  manner  to  give  so  much  satisfaction,  and  that  has  left 
on  the  whole  a  character  more  remarkable  and  more  renowned  than  any 
other  public  man  ever  possessed.  The  reason  was,  that  he  possessed 
great  good  sense,  sound  judgment  and  absolute  purity  of  motive;  and  a 
full  confidence  of  his  country  cheered  him  and  sustained  him  from  the 
beginning  to  the  end. 

Thus  it  has  happened,  we  have  had  great  models.  In  the  course  of 
succeeding  times  we  may  have  great  models.  We  have  sometimes  thought 
that  this  administration,  or  that,  has'  gone  wrong,  but  they  all  at  length 
have  worked  into  the  same  line,  and  we  are  now,  after  the  lapse  of 
more  than  sixty  years,  in  the  possession  of  the  same  Constitution,  ade 
quate  to  the  accomplishment  of  all  good  purposes  ;  and  I  think,  if  we 
have  the  good  sense  and  forbearance  to  keep  together,  there  is  nothing  we 
may  not  expect  to  attain  to.  We  have  had  dangers,  but  they  have  been 
overcome ;  and  I  flatter  myself  that  we  shall  remember  that  our  forefathers 
fought  together,  and  achieved  our  liberties  together,  established  this 
government  together,  that  it  was  their  united  wisdom  that  gave  the 
first  impulse  to  the  laws  setting  the  government  in  motion. 

We  have  prospered  under  it,  and  have  gloried  under  it,  and  it  has 
raised  our  name,  and  fame,  and  character  (I  would  not  boast)  higher  than 
that  of  any  nation  upon  the  earth.  (Prolonged  cheers.)  I  say  it  in 
the  fullness  of  my  conviction,  there  is  not  a  name  given  under  Heaven, 
which  touches  in  so  thrilling  a  manner  the  races  of  millions  of  the  civil 
ized  people  of  the  world,  as  the  American  nation,  the  country  of  Wash 
ington.  I  hope  to  live  to  a  good  old  age  ;  I  hope  to  see  nothing  that  will 
mar  that  name  ;  but  if  it  be  the  pleasure  of  God  in  his  all-wise  Provi 
dence  to  cast  a  cloud  over  that  prospect ;  if  it  be  in  the  future  that  this 
country,  this  glorious  nation,  this  renowned  government  shall  fall  to 
pieces,  thankful  to  Him  for  the  life  that  I  have  lived,  I  shall  be  more 
thankful  if  he  shall  take  me  to  himself  before  I  see  such  a  melancholy 
atastrophe.  (Great  applause.) 


43 


MR.  SPENCER'S  SPEECH 


DINNER  GIVEN  TO  MR.  WEBSTER  AT  ALBANY. 

Mr.  SPENCER  rose  and  addressed  the  company  as  follows  : 

I  am  about  to  offer  a  sentiment,  my  friends,  which  you  expect  from  the 
chair.  The  presence  of  the  distinguished  guest  whom  we  have  met  to 
honor,  imposes  restraints  which  may  not  be  overleaped.  Within  those 
limits,  and  without  offending  the  generous  spirit  which  has  on  this  occa 
sion  discarded  all  political  and  partisan  feeling,  I  may  recall  to  our  recol 
lections  a  few  incidents  in  his  public  life,  which  have  won  for  him  the  proud 
title  of  "  Defender  of  the  Constitution."  ^ Great  applause.) 

When  in  1832-33,  South  Carolina  raised  her  parricidal  arm  against  our 
common  mother,  and  the  administration  of  the  government  was  in  the 
hands  of  that  man  of  determined  purpose  and  iron  will,  Andrew  Jackson, 
whose  greatest  glory  was  his  inflexible  resolution  to  sustain  the  Union  or 
perish  with  it,  (here  the  speaker  was  interrupted  by  deafening  shouts  of 
applause, )  in  that  dark  and  gloomy  day,  where  was  our  guest  found  ?  Did 
he  think  of  paltry  politics,  of  how  much  his  party  might  gain  by  leaving 
their  antagonists  to  fight  the  battle  of  the  Union  between  themselves,  arid 
thus  become  a  prey  to  their  watchful  opponents  ?  No,  gentlemen,  you 
know  what  he  did.  He  rallied  his  mighty  energies,  and  tendered  them 
openly  and  heartily  to  a  political  chieftain  whose  administration  he  had 
constantly  opposed.  (Cheers  upon  cheers.)  He  breasted  himself  to  the 
storm.  Where  blows  were  thickest  and  heaviest,  there  was  he  ;  and  when 
he  encountered  the  great  champion  of  the  South,  Colonel  Hayne,  in  that 
immortal,  intellectual  struggle,  the  parallel  of  which  no  country  has  wit 
nessed,  the  hopes,  the  breathless  anxiety  of  a  nation,  hung  upon  his 
efforts  ;  and,  oh,  what  a  shout  of  joy  and  gratulation  ascended  to  heaven, 
at  the  matchless  victory  which  he  achieved.  (Here,  for  some  time,  the 
speaker  was  unable  to  proceed,  in  consequence  of  the  incessant  and  tumul 
tuous  cheering  of  the  company,  who  had  spontaneously  risen  from  their 
seats.)  Had  he  then  been  called  to  his  fathers,  the  measure  of  his  fame 
would  have  been  full  to  overflowing,  and  he  would  have  left  a  monu 
ment  in  the  grateful  recollection  of  his  countrymen,  such  as  no  statesman 
of  modern  times  has  reared.  (Renewed  applause.)  But  he  was  reserved 
by  a  kind  Providence  for  greater  efforts.  For  more  than  twenty  years,  in 
the  Senate  Chamber,  in  the  courts  of  justice,  and  in  the  executive  coun 
cils,  he  has  stood  sentinel  over  the  Constitution.  It  seems  to  have  been 
the  master  passion  of  his  life  to  love,  to  venerate,  to  defend,  to  fight  for 
the  Constitution,  at  all  times  and  in  all  places.  (Cheers  upon  cheers.) 
He  did  so  because  the  Union  existed  and  can  exist  only  in  the  Constitu 
tion  ;  and  the  peace  and  happiness  of  the  country  can  exist  only  in  the 
Union.  In  fighting  for  the  Constitution,  he  fought  therefore  for  the  coun 
try,  for  the  whole  country. 

I  may  not  speak  in  detail  of  the  many  acts  of  his  public  life  which  hi 
developed  this  absorbing  love  of  country.     But  there  are  a  few  of  the  pre- 


cious  gems  in  the  circlet  which  adorns  his  brow,  that  are  so  marked  and 
prominent  that  they  cannot  be  overlooked. 

When  he  first  assumed  the  duties  of  the  Department  of  State,  war  was 
lowering  in  our  horizon  like  a  black  cloud,  ready  to  launch  its  thunder 
bolts  around  us.  The  alarming  state  of  our  foreign  relations,  at  that 
time,  is  shown  by  the  extraordinary  fact  that  the  appropriation  bills  passed 
by  Congress  at  the  close  of  Mr.  Van  Buren's  administration  contained  an 
unusuaf  provision,  authorizing  the  President  to  transfer  them  to  military 
purposes.  In  a  few  months  after  our  guest  took  the  matter  in  hand ^  the 
celebrated  treaty  with  Lord  Ashburton  was  concluded,  by  which  the  irri 
tating  question  of  boundary  was  settled,  every  difficulty  then  known  or 
anticipated  was  adjusted,  and  among  others,  the  detestable  claim  to  search 
our  vessels  for  British  seamen,  was  renounced. 

In  connection  with  this  treaty,  I  take  this  occasion,  the  first  that  has 
presented  itself,  to  state  some  facts  which  are  not  generally  known.  The 
then  administration  had  no  strength  in  Congress  ;  it  could  command  no 
support  for  any  of  its  measures.  This  was  an  obstacle  sufficiently  formi 
dable  in  itself.  But  Mr.  Webster  had  to  deal  with  a  feeble  and  wayward 
President,  an  unfriendly  Senate,  a  hostile  House  of  Representatives,  and 
an  accomplished  British  diplomatist.  I  speak  of  what  I  personally  know, 
when  I  say,  that  never  was  a  negotiation  environed  with  greater  or  more 
perplexing  difficulties.  He  had  at  least  three  parties  to  negotiate  with 
instead  of  one,  to  say  nothing  of  Massachusetts  and  Maine,  who  had  to  be 
consulted  in  relation  to  a  boundary  that  affected  their  territory.  You 
know  the  result ;  glorious  as  it  was  to  our  country,  how  glorious  was  it  also 
to  the  pilot  that  guided  the  ship  through  such  difficulties  !  (Prolonged 
cheering.) 

You  have  not  forgotten  how  the  generous  sympathies  of  our  guest  were 
awakened  in  behalf  of  the  noble  Hungarians,  in  their  immortal  resistance 
against  the  force  of  barbarism.  And  sure  I  am  there  is  not  a  heart  here 
that  has  not  treasured  up  the  contents  of  that  world-renowned  letter  to 
Chevalier  Hulsemann,  in  answer  to  the  intimations  of  threats  by  Austria 
to  treat  our  diplomatic  agent  as  a  spy  !  What  American  was  not  proud 
of  being  the  countryman  of  the  author  of  that  letter  ?  (Cheers  upon 
cheers  silenced  the  speaker  for  some  time.) 

I  confess  I  cannot  now  think  of  that  letter,  without  recollecting  the 
sensations  a  particular  part  of  it  produced  upon  my  risible  faculties.  I 
mean  the  comparison  between  the  territories  and  national  importance  of 
the  House  of  Hapsburgh  and  those  of  the  United  States  of  America.  (A 
universal  shout  of  merriment  here  interrupted  the  speaker  again  and  again, 
and  prevented  him  from  proceeding  for  some  time.) 

But  I  must  stop  the  enumeration  of  the  great  deeds  in  the  glory  of 
which  we  all  participate,  and  by  the  results  of  which  the  whole  civilized 
world  has  been  benefited.  I  must  stop,  or  the  setting  sun  would  leave  me 
still  at  the  task,  and  the  rising  sun  would  find  it  unfinished. 

The  same  soul-absorbing  devotion  to  the  country  and  to  the  Constitution, 
as  its  anchor  of  safety,  has  been  exhibited  so  recently  and  so  remarkably, 
that  no  one  can  have  forgotten  it.  In  the  view  which  I  present  of  the  mat 
ter,  it  is  quite  immaterial  whether  we  regard  our  guest  as  having  been  right 
or  wrong.  He  deemed  the  course  he  took  to  be  the  only  one  permitted  to 
him  by  his  sense  of  duty.  On  the  other  side  were  the  strong  feelings  with 
which,  as  a  Northern  man,  he  had  always  sympathized  ;  there  also  wert 


45 

the  friends  of  his  youth  and  of  his  age  ;  the  troops  of  ardent  and  devoted 
admirers  ;  all  whose  love  was  equal  to  their  reverence  ;  all  the  associations 
and  affections  of  life  were  clustered  there  ;  while  on  the  other  side  a  feeling 
of  enmity,  engendered  by  former  contests  and  the  defeat  of  all  their 
schemes,  nothing  to  allure  or  invite,  but  everything  to  repel,  except  one, 
and  that  was  the  Constitution  of  the  country  ;  that,  as  he  conscientiously 
believed,  required  him  to  interpose  and  prevent  a  breach  of  faith,  as  well 
as  of  the  organic  law,  and  avert  a  civil  war  that  he  believed  was  impend 
ing.  He  hesitated  not  a  moment,  but  at  once  marched  up  to  the  deadly 
breach,  and  was  ready  to  sacrifice  upon  his  country's  altar,  more  than  life, 
everything  that  could  render  life  worth  retaining. 

My  friends,  whatever  other  view  may  be  taken  of  that  step,  every  one 
knows  that  it  conformed  to  the  whole  plan  of  his  public  life  to  know  no 
North,  no  South,  when  the  Constitution  was  in  question  ;  and  there  is  not 
a  heart  in  this  assembly  that  will  not  respond  to  my  voice  when  I  pro 
nounce  it  heroism  ;  heroism  of  the  most  sublime  order.  It  can  be  com 
pared  only  to  that  of  the  Great  Reformer  who,  when  advised  not  to  proceed 
to  the  Diet  that  was  convoked  to  condemn  him,  declared  that  if  fifty  thou 
sand  legions  of  devils  stood  in  the  way,  go  he  would  !  (Prolonged  and 
universal  shouts.) 

How  poor  and  insignificant  are  all  our  efforts  to  express  our  appreci 
ation  of  such  a  character  and  of  such  services.  They  have  sunk  deep  in 
our  hearts  ;  they  will  sink  deeper  still  in  the  hearts  of  the  unborn  mil 
lions  who  are  to  people  this  vast  continent,  and  when  he  and  we  sleep 
with  our  fathers,  his  name  will  reverberate  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Paci 
fic  as  the  defender  of  the  Constitution  and  of  his  country. 

Gentlemen,  I  give  you  a  sentiment  which  I  think  will  be  drank  in  bum 
pers  and  standing.  (The  whole  assembly  rose  at  once  with  acclamation  :) 

"  The  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  Daniel  Webster,  inseparable  now, 
and  inseparable  in  the  records  of  time  and  eternity." 


MR.  WEBSTER'S  RESPONSE. 


FELLOW-CITIZENS,  I  owe  the  honor  of  this  occasion,  and  I  esteem  it 
an  uncommon  and  extraordinary  honor,  to  the  young  men  of  this  city  ot 
Albany  ;  and  it  is  my  first  duty  to  express  to  these  young  men  my  grate 
ful  thanks  for  the  respect  they  have  manifested  towards  me.  ISever 
less,  nevertheless,  young  men  of  Albany,  I  do  not  mistake  you,  or  your 
object,  or  your  purpose.  I  am  proud  to  take  to  myself  whatever  may 
properly  belong  to  me,  as  a  token  of  personal  and  political  regard  f 
you  to  inc.  But  I  know,  young  men  of  Albany,  it  is  not  I,  but  the  cause  ; 
it  is  not  I,  but  your  own  generous  attachments  to  your  country  ;  it  is  not 
I,  but  the  Constitution  of  the  Union,  which  has  bound  together  your  an 
cestors  and  mine,  and  all  of  us,  for  more  than  half  a  century.  It  » this, 
that  has  brought  you  here  to-day,  to  testify  your  regard  toward  one  v  ho, 
to  the  best  of  his  humble  ability,  has  sustained  that  cause  before  the  coun 
try  (Cheers.)  Go  on,  young  men  of  Albany  !  Go  on  young  men  of  the 
United  States  !  Early  manhood  u  the  chief  prop  and  support,  the  reh- 


46 

ance  and  hope,  for  the  preservation  of  public  liberty  and  the  institutions 
of  the  land.  Early  manhood  is  ingenuous,  generous,  just.  It  looks  for 
ward  to  a  long  life  of  honor  or  dishonor ;  and  it  means,  by  the  blessing 
of  God,  that  it  shall  be  a  life  of  honor,  of  usefulness,  and  success,  in  all 
the  professions  and  pursuits  of  life  ;  and  that  it  shall  close,  when  close  it 
must,  with  some  claim  to  the  gratitude  of  the  country.  Go  on,  then  ; 
uphold  the  institutions  to  which  you  were  born.  You  are  manly  and 
bold.  You  fear  nothing  but  to  do  wrong,  dread  nothing  but  to  be  found 
recreant  to  patriotism  and  to  your  country. 

Gentlemen,  I  certainly  had  no  expectation  of  appearing  in  such  an  as 
semblage  as  this  to-day.  It  is  not  probable,  that  for  a  long  time  to 
come,  I  may  again  address  any  large  meeting  of  my  fellow-citizens. 
If  I  should  not,  and  if  this  were  the  last,  or  to  be  among  the 
last  of  all  the  occasions  in  which  I  am  to  appear  before  any  great 
number  of  the  people  of  the  country,  I  shall  not  regret  that  that  appear 
ance  was  here.  I  find  myself  in  the  political  capital  of  the  greatest,  most 
commercial,  most  powerful  State  of  the  Union.  I  find  myself  invited  to  be 
here  by  persons  of  the  highest  respectability,  without  distinction  of  party. 
I  consider  the  occasion  as  somewhat  august.  I  know  that  among  those 
who  now  listen  to  me  there  are  such  as  are  of  the  wisest,  the  best,  the  most 
patriotic  and  the  most  experienced  public  and  private  men  in  the  State  of 
New  York.  Here  are  governors  and  ex-governors,  here  arc  judges  and 
ex-judges,  of  high  character  and  high  station  ;  and  here  are  persons  from 
all  the  walks  of  professional  and  private  life,  distinguished  for  talent,  and 
virtue,  and  eminence.  Fellow-citizens,  before  such  an  assemblage,  and  on 
such  an  invitation,  I  feel  bound  to  guard  every  opinion  and  every  expres 
sion  ;  to  speak  with  precision  such  sentiments  as  I  advance,  and  to  be 
careful  in  all  that  I  say,  that  I  may  not  be  misapprehended  or  misrepre 
sented.  I  am  requested,  fellow-citizens,  by  those  who  invited  me,  to  sig 
nify  my  sentiments  on  the  state  of  public  affairs  in  this  country,  and  the 
interesting  questions  which  are  before  us.  ' 

This  proves,  gentlemen,  that  in  their  opinion  there  are  questions  some 
times  arising  which  range  above  all  party,  and  all  the  influences,  and 
considerations,  and  interests  of  party.  It  proves  more  ;  it  proves  that, 
in  their  judgment,  this  is  a  time  in  which  public  affairs  do  rise  in  impor 
tance  above  the  range  of  party,  and  draw  to  them  an  interest  paramount 
to  all  party  considerations.  If  that  be  not  so,  I  am  here  without  object, 
and  you  are  listening  to  me  for  no  purpose  whatever. 

Then,  gentlemen,  what  is  the  condition  of  public  affairs  which  makes  it 
necessary  and  proper  for  men  to  meet,  and  confer  together  on  the  state  of 
the  country  ?  What  are  the  questions  which  are  overriding,  subduing,  and 
overwhelming  party,  uniting  honest,  well-meaning  persons  to  lay  party 
aside,  to  meet  and  confer  for  the  general  public  weal  ?  I  shall,  of  course, 
fellow-citizens,  not  enter  at  large  into  many  of  these  questions,  nor  into 
any  lengthened  discussion  of  the  state  of  public  affairs,  but  shall  endeavor 
to  state  what  that  condition  is,  what  these  questions  are,  and  to  pronounce 
a  conscientious  judgment  of  my  own  upon  the  whole. 

The  last  Congress,  fellow-citizens,  passed  laws  called  adjustment  measures, 
or  settlement  measures  ;  laws  intended  to  put  an  end  to  certain  internal  and 
domestic  controversies  which  existed  in  the  country,  and  some  of  which 
had  existed  for  a  long  time.  These  laws  were  passed  by  the  constitutional 


47 


e  iscussion,  overnment  was  established  in  each  of  the  territories^ 
New  Mexico  and  Utah  but  not  without  opposition.  The  boundary  of 
Texas  was  to  be  settled  by  compromise  with  that  State,  but  not  witoou 
determined  and  violent  opposition.  These  laws  all  passed,  however,  and  as 
they  have  now  become,  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  irrepealable,  it  is  not 
necessary  that  I  should  detain  you  by  discussing  their  merits  and  demerits 
Nevertheless,  gentlemen,  I  desire  on  this  and  on  all  public  occasions  in 
the  most  emphatic  and  clear  manner  to  declare,  that  I  hold  some  of  these 
laws,  and  especially  that  which  provided  for  the  adjustment  of  the  contro 
versy  with  Texas,  to  have  been  essential  to  the  preservation  of  the  public 
peace. 

I  will  not  now^  argue  that  point,  nor  lay  before  you  at  large  the  circum 
stances  which  existed  at  that  time  ;  the  peculiar  situation  of  things  in  so 
many  of  the  Southern  States,  or  the  fact  that  many  of  those  States,  had 
adopted  measures  for  the  separation  of  the  Union ;  the  fact  that  Texas 
was  preparing  to  assert  her  rights  to  territory  which  New  Mexico  thought 
was  hers  by  right,  and  that  hundreds  and  thousands  of  men,  tired  of  the 
ordinary  pursuits  of  private  life,  were  ready  to  rise  and  unite  in  any  enter 
prise  that  might  open  itself  to  them,  even  at  the  risk  of  a  direct  conflict 
with  the  authority  of  this  Government.  I  say,  therefore,  without  going 
into  the  argument  with  any  details,  that  in  March  of  1850,  when  I  found  it 
my  duty  to  address  Congress  on  these  important  topics,  it  was  my  conscien 
tious  belief,  still  unshaken,  ever  since  confirmed,  that  if  the  controversy  with 
Texas  could  not  be  amicably  adjusted,  there  must,  in  all  probability,  have 
been  civil  war  and  civil  bloodshed ;  and  in  the  contemplation  of  such  a  pros 
pect  it  appeared  of  little  consequence  on  which  standard  victory  should  perch ; 
although  in  such  a  contest  we  took  it  for  granted  that  no  opposition  could 
arise  to  the  authority  of  the  United  States  that  would  not  be  suppressed. 
But  what  of  that  ?  I  was  not  anxious  about  the  military  consequences  of 
things  ;  I  looked  to  the  civil  and  political  state  of  things  and  their  results ; 
and  I  inquired  what  would  be  the  condition  of  the  country  if,  in  this  state 
of  agitation,  if,  in  this  vastly  extended,  though  not  generally  pervading 
feeling  at  the  South,  war  should  break  out,  and  bloodshed  should  ensue 
in  that  extreme  of  the  Union  ?  That  was  enough  for  me  to  inquire  into  and 
regard  ;  and  if  the  chances  had  been  but  one  in  a  thousand  that  civil  war 
would  have  been  the  result,  I  should  still  have  felt  that  that  one  thousandth 
chance  should  be  guarded  against  by  any  reasonable  sacrifice  ;  because, 
gentlemen,  sanguine  as  I  am  for  the  future  prosperity  of  the  country ; 
strongly  as  I  believe  now,  after  what  has  passed,  and  especially  after  those 
measures  to  which  I  have  referred,  that  it  is  likely  to  hold  together,  I  yet 
believe  firmly  that  this  Union,  once  broken,  is  utterly  incapable,  according 
to  all  human  experience,  of  being  re-constructed  in  its  original  character,  of 
being  re-cemented  by  any  chemistry,  or  art,  or  effort,  or  skill  of  man. 
Now,  gentlemen,  let  us  pass  from  those  measures  which  are  now  accom 
plished  and  settled.  California  is  in  the  Union  and  cannot  be  got  out ; 
the  Texas  boundary  is  settled,  and  cannot  be  disturbed  ;  Utah  and  New 
Mexico  are  territories,  under  provision  of  law,  according  to  accustomed 


48 

usage  in  former  cases ;  and  these  things  may  be  regarded  as  finally  adjusted 
But  then  there  was  another  subject,  equally  agitating  and  equally  irritating 
which,  in  its  nature,  must  always  be  subject  to  consideration  or  proposed 
amendment ;  and  that  is,  the  fugitive  slave  law  of  1850,  passed  at  the  same 
session  of  Congress. 

Allow  me  to  advert,  very  shortly,  to  what  I  consider  the  ground  of  that 
law.  You  know,  and  I  know,  that  it  was  very  much  opposed  in  the  Nor 
thern  States  ;  sometimes  with  argument  not  unfair,  often  by  mere  ebulli 
tion  of  party,  and  often  by  those  whirlwinds  of  fanaticism  that  raise  a  dust 
and  blind  the  eyes,  but  produce  no  other  effect.  Now,  gentlemen,  this  ques 
tion  of  the  propriety  of  the  fugitive  slave  law,  or  the  enactment  of  some 
such  law,  is  a  question  that  must  be  met.  Its  enemies  will  not  let  it  sleep  or 
slumber.  They  will  "  give  neither  sleep  to  their  eyes  nor  slumber  to  their 
eyelids  "  so  long  as  they  can  agitate  it  before  the  people.  It  is  with  them 
a  topic,  a  desirable  topic,  and  all  know  who  have  much  experience  in  po 
litical  affairs,  that  for  party  men,  and  in  party  times  there  is  hardly  any 
thing  so  desirable  as  a  topic.  (Laughter.)  Now,  gentlemen,  I  am  ready 
to  meet  this  question.  I  am  ready  to  meet  it ;  I  am  ready  to  say  that  it 
was  right,  proper,  expedient,  just,  that  a  suitable  law  should  be  passed  for 
the  restoration  of  fugitive  slaves,  found  in  free  States,  to  their  owners 
in  slave  States.  I  am  ready  to  say  that,  because  I  only  repeat  the  words 
of  the  Constitution  itself,  and  I  am  not  afraid  of  being  considered  a  pla 
giarist,  nor  a  feeble  imitator  of  other  men's  language  and  sentiments,  when 
I  repeat  and  announce  to  every  part  of  the  country,  to  you,  here,  and 
at  all  times,  the  language  of  the  Constitution  of  my  country.  (Loud 
cheers.)  Gentlemen,  before  the  Revolution,  slavery  existed  in  the  Soi^hern 
States,  and  had  existed  there  for  more  than  a  hundred  years.  Wa  of  the 
North  were  not  guilty  of  its  introduction.  That  generation  of  men,  even 
in  the  South,  were  not  guilty  of  it.  It  had  been  introduced  according  to 
the  policy  of  the  mother  country,  before  there  was  any  independence  in 
the  United  States ;  indeed,  before  there  were  any  authorities  in  the  colo 
nies  competent  to  resist  it.  Why,  gentlemen,  men's  opinions  have  so 
changed  on  this  subject,  and  properly,  the  world  has  come  to  so  much 
juster  sentiments,  that  we  can  hardly  believe,  what  is  certainly  true, 
that  at  the  peace  of  Aix  la  Chapelle,  in  1748,  the  English  Government 
insisted  on  the  fulfillment,  to  its  full  extent,  of  a  condition  in  the  treaty  of 
the  Assiento,  signed  at  Utrecht,  in  1713,  by  which  the  Spanish  Govern 
ment  had  granted  the  unqualified  and  exclusive  privilege  to  the  British 
Government  of  importing  slaves  into  the  Spanish  colonies  in  America  ! 
That  was  not  then  repugnant  to  public  sentiment ;  happily  such  a  contract 
would  be  execrated  now. 

I  alluds  to  this,  only  to  show,  that  the  introduction  of  slavery  into  the 
Southern  States  is  not  to  be  visited  upon  the  generation  that  achieved  the 
Independence  of  this  country.  On  the  contrary,  all  the  eminent  men  of 
that  day  regretted  its  existence.  And  you,  my  young  friends  of  Albany, 
if  you  will  take  the  pains  to  go  back  to  the  debates  of  the  period,  from  the 
meeting  of  the  first  Congress  in  1774,  I  mean  the  Congress  of  the  Confed 
eration,  to  the  adoption  of  the  present  Constitution,  and  the  enactment  of 
the  first  law  under  the  existing  Constitution,  you  and  anybody  who  will  make 
that  necessary  research,  will  find  that  Southern  men  and  Southern  States, 
as  represented  in  Congress,  lamented  the  existence  of  slavery  in  far  more  ear- 


49 

nest  and  emphatic  terms  than  the  Northern  ;  for  though  it  did  exist  in  the 
Northern  States,  it  was  a  feeble  taper,  just  going  out,  soon  to  end,  and 
nothing  was  feared  from  it ;  while  leading  men  of  the  South,  of  Virginia  and 
the  Carolinas,  felt  and  acknowledged  that  it  was  a  moral  and  political  evil ; 
that  it  weakened  the  arm  of  the  freeman,  and  kept  back  the  progress  and 
success  of  free  labor  ;  and  they  said  with  truth,  and  all  history  verifies  the 
observation,  "  that  if  the  shores  of  the  Chesapeake  had  been  made  as  free 
to  free  labor  as  the  shores  of  the  North  River,  New  York  might  have  been 
great,  but  Virginia  would  have  been  great  also."  That  was  the  sentiment. 

Now,  under  this  state  of  things,  gentlemen,  when  the  Constitution  was 
framed,  its  framers,  and  the  people  who  adopted  it,  came  to  a  clear,  ex 
press,  unquestionable  stipulation  and  compact.  There  had  been  an  an 
cient  practice  for  many  years,  for  a  century,  for  aught  I  know,  according 
to  which  fugitives  from  service,  whether  apprentices  at  the  North,  or  slaves 
at  the  South,  should  be  restored.  Massachusetts  had  restored  fugitive 
slaves  to  Virginia  long  before  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  ;  and  it  is 
well  known  that  in  other  States,  in  which  slavery  did  or  did  not  exist,  they 
were  restored  also,  on  proper  application.  And  it  was  held  that  any  man 
could  pursue  his  slave  and  take  him  wherever  he  could  find  him.  Under 
this  state  of  things,  it  was  expressly  stipulated,  in  the  plainest  language, 
and  there  it  stands  ;  sophistry  cannot  gloss  it,  it  cannot  be  erased  from 
the  page  of  the  Constitution  ;  there  it  stands,  that  persons  held  to  service 
or  labor  in  one  State,  under  the  laws  thereof,  escaping  into  another,  shall 
not,  in  consequence  of  any  law  or  regulation  therein,  be  discharged  from 
such  service  or  labor,  but  shall  be  delivered  up,  upon  claim  of  the  party 
to  whom  such  service  or  labor  shall  be  due.  This  was  adopted  without 
dissent,  nowhere  objected  to,  North  or  South,  but  considered  as  a  matter 
of  absolute  right  and  justice  to  the  Southern  States,  concurred  in  ^every- 
where,  by  every  State  that  adopted  the  Constitution  -^and  we  took  invain 
for  any  opposition,  from  Massachusetts  to  G-eorgia.  ibfftTjF 

Then,  this  being  the  case,  this  being  the  provision  of  the  Constitution, 
it  was  found  necessary,  in  Greneral  Washington's  time,  to  pass  a  law  to 
carry  that  provision  of  the  Constitution  into  effect.  Such  a  law  was 
prepared  and  passed.  It  was  prepared  by  a  gentleman  from  a  Northern 
State.  It  is  said  to  have  been  drawn  up  by  Mr.  Cabot,  of  Massachusetts. 
It  was  supported  by  him,  and  by  Mr.  Groodhue,  and  by  Mr.  Sedgwick, 
of  Massachusetts,  and  generally  by  all  the  free  States.  There  was 
hardly  a  tenth  of  all  the  votes  against  it,  if  I  rightly  remember 
It  went  into  operation,  and,  for  a  time,  it  satisfied  the  just  rights  and 
expectations  of  everybody.  That  law  provided  that  its  enactments 
should  be  carried  into  effect  mainly  by  State  magistrates,  justices  of 
the  peace,  judges  of  State  courts,  sheriffs  and  other  organs  of  State 
authority.  So  things  went  on  without  loud  complaints  from  any  quarter, 
until  some  fifteen  years  ago,  when  some  of  the  States,  the  free  States, 
thought  it  proper  for  them  to  pass  laws  prohibiting  their  own  magistrates 
and  officers  from  executing  this  law  of  Congress,  under  heavy  penalties, 
and  refusing  to  the  United  States'  authorities  the  use  of  their  pris 
for  the  detention  of  persons  arrested  as  fugitive  slaves.  That  is  to  pay, 
these  States  passed  acts  defeating  the  law  of  Congress,  as  far  as  was  in  tt 
power  to  defeat  it.  Those  of  them  to  which  I  refer,  not  all,  but  several,  m 
lined  the  law  of  '93  entirely.  They  said, "  We  will  not  execute  it. 

4 


50 

away  slave  shall  be  restored."  Thus  the  law  became  a  dead  letter,  an  en 
tire  dead  letter.  But  here  was  the  constitutional  compact,  nevertheless, 
still  binding  ;  here  was  the  stipulation,  as  solemn  as  words  could  form  it, 
and  which  every  member  of  Congress,  every  officer  of  the  General  Govern 
ment,  every  officer  of  the  State  Governments,  from  governors  down  to  con 
stables,  are  sworn  to  support.  Well,  under  this  state  of  things,  in  1850, 
I  was  of  opinion  that  common  justice  and  good  faith  called  upon  us  to 
make  a  law,  fair,  reasonable,  equitable,  just,  that  should  be  calculated  to 
carry  this  constitutional  provision  into  effect,  and  give  the  Southern  States 
what  they  were  entitled  to,  and  what  it  was  intended  originally  they  should 
receive,  that  is,  a  fair  right  and  reasonable  means  to  recover  their  fugitives 
from  service  from  the  States  into  which  they  had  fled.  I  was  of  opinion 
that  it  was  the  bounden  duty  of  Congress  to  pass  such  a  law.  The  South 
insisted  that  they  had  a  right  to  it,  and  I  thought  they  properly  so  insisted, 
It  was  no  concession,  no  yielding  of  anything,  no  giving  up  of  anything. 
When  called  on  to  fulfil  a  compact,  the  question  is,  will  you  fulfil  it  ? 
And,  for  one,  I  was  ready.  I  said,  '  I  will  fulfil  it  by  any  fair  and  reason 
able  act  of  legislation.'  Now,  the  law  of  1850,  had  two  objects,  both 
of  which  were  accomplished  :  First,  it  was  to  make  the  law  more  favor 
able  for  the  fugitive  than  the  law  of  1793.  It  did  so,  because  it  called 
for  a  record,  under  seal,  from  a  court  in  the  State  from  which  the  fugitive 
came,  proving  and  ascertaining  that  he  was  a  fugitive,  so  that  nothing 
should  be  left,  when  pursued  into  a  free  State,  but  to  produce  the  proof  of 
his  identity.  Next,  it  secured  a  higher  tribunal,  and  it  placed  the  power 
in  more  responsible  hands.  The  judges  of  the  Supreme  and  District 
Courts  of  the  United  States,  and  learned  persons  appointed  by  them  as 
commissioners,  were  to  see  to  the  execution  of  the  law.  Therefore  it  was 
a  more  favorable  law,  in  all  respects,  to  the  fugitive,  than  the  law  passed 
under  General  Washington's  administration  in  '93.  And  the  second 
object  was,  to  carry  the  constitutional  provision  into  effect,  by  the  author 
ity  of  law,  seeing  that  the  States  had  prevented  the  execution  of  the  for 
mer  law. 

Now,  let  me  say  that  this  law  has  been  discussed,  considered,  and  ad 
judged  in  a  great  many  of  the  tribunals  of  the  country.  It  has  been  the 
subject  of  discussion  before  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  the  subject  of  discussion  before  courts  the  most  respectable  in  the 
States.  Everywhere,  on  all  occasions,  and  by  all  judges,  it  has  been  hold- 
en  to  be,  and  pronounced  to  be,  a  constitutional  law.  So  say  Judges 
McLean,  Nelson,  Woodbury,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  judges,  as  far  as  I 
know,  on  the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States.  So  says 
the  unanimous  opinion  of  Massachusetts  herself,  expressed  by  as  good  a 
court  as  ever  sat  in  Massachusetts,  its  present  Supreme  Court,  unanimous 
ly,  and  without  hesitation.  And  so  says  everybody,  eminent  for  learning, 
and  constitutional  law,  and  good  judgment,  without  opposition,  without 
intermixture  of  dissent,  or  difference  of  judicial  opinion  anywhere.  And  I 
hope  I  may  be  indulged  on  this  occasion,  gentlemen,  partly  on  account  of 
a  high  personal  regard,  and  partly  for  the  excellence  and  ability  of  the  pro 
duction,  to  refer  you  all  to  a  recent  very  short  opinion  of  Mr.  Prentiss, 
the  District  Judge  of  Vermont.  (Applause.)  True,  the  case  before  him  did 
not  turn  so  much  on  the  question  of  the  constitutionality  of  this  law,  as  upon 
the  unconstitutionally  and  illegality,  and  utter  inadmissibility,  of  the  notion 


51 

of  private  men  and  political  bodies  setting  up  their  own  whims,  or  their  own 
opinions,  above  it,  on  the  idea  of  the  higher  law  that  exists  somewhere  be 
tween  us  and  the  third  heaven,  I  never  knew  exactly  where.  (Cries  of 
"  good,"  and  laughter.) 

All  judicial  opinions  are  in  favor  of  this  law.  You  cannot  find  a  man 
in  the  profession  in  New  York,  whose  income  reaches  thirty  pounds  a  year, 
who  will  stake  his  professional  reputation  on  an  opinion  against  it.  If  he 
does,  his  reputation  is  not  worth  the  thirty  pounds.  (Renewed  laughter.) 
And  yet  this  law  is  opposed,  violently  opposed,  not  by  bringing  this 
question  into  court :  these  lovers  of  human  liberty  ;  these  friends  of  the 
slave,  the  fugitive  slave,  do  not  put  their  hands  in  their  pockets  and 
draw  funds  to  conduct  law  suits,  and  try  the  question  ;  they  are  not  in  that 
habit  much.  (Laughter.)  That  is  not  the  way  they  show  their  devotion 
to  liberty  of  any  kind.  But  they  meet  and  pass  resolutions ;  they  resolve 
that  the  law  is  oppressive,  unjust,  and  should  not  be  executed  at  any  rate, 
or  under  any  circumstances.  It  has  been  said  in  the  States  of  New  York, 
Massachusetts,  and  Ohio,  over  and  over  again,  that  the  law  shall  not  be 
executed.  That  was  the  language  of  a  Convention  in  Worcester,  in  Mas 
sachusetts  ;  in  Syracuse,  New  York,  and  elsewhere.  And  for  this  they 
pledged  their  lives,  their  fortunes,  and  their  sacred  honor  !  (Laughter.) 
Now,  gentlemen,  these  proceedings,  .1  say  it  upon  my  professional  reputa 
tion,  are  distinctly  treasonable.  Resolutions  passed  in  Ohio,  certain 
resolutions  in  New  York,  and  in  the  conventions  held  in  Boston,  are  dis 
tinctly  treasonable.  And  the  act  of  taking  away  Shadrach  from  the  public 
authorities  in  Boston,  and  sending  him  off,  was  an  act  of  clear  treason. 
I  speak  this  in  the  hearing  of  men  who  are  lawyers  ;  I  speak  it  out  to  the 
country ;  I  say  it  everywhere,  on  my  professional  reputation.  It  was 
treason,  and  nothing  less  ;  that  is  to  say,  if  men  get  together,  and  combine 
together,  and  resolve  that  they  will  oppose  a  law  of  the  government,  not 
in  any  one  case,  but  in  all  cases  ;  I  say  if  they  resolve  to  resist  the  law, 
whoever  may  be  attempted  to  be  made  the  subject  of  it,  and  carry  that 
purpose  into  effect,  by  resisting  the  application  of  the  law  in  any  one  case, 
either  by  force  of  arms  or  force  of  numbers,  that,  sir,  is  treason.  (Turn 
ing  to  Mr.  Spencer,  and  stamping  with  emphasis.)  You  know  it  well. 
(Continuing  to  address  Mr.  Spencer.  The  resolution  itself,  unacted  on, 
is  not  treason  ;  it  only  manifests  a  treasonable  purpose.  When  this  pur 
pose  is  proclaimed — and  it  is  proclaimed  that  it  will  be  carried  out  in  all 
cases — and  is  carried  into  effect,  by  force  of  arms  or  numbers,  in  any  one 
case,  that  constitutes  a  case  of  levying  war  against  the  Union,  and  if  it 
were  necessary,  I  might  cite,  in  illustration,  the  case  of  John  Fries,  con 
victed  in  Washington's  time,  for  being  concerned  in  the  whiskey  insurrec 
tion  in  Pennsylvania.  Now,  various  are  the  arguments,  and  various  the 
efforts,  to  denounce  this  law ;  to  oppose  its  execution  ;  to  keep  it  up  as  a 
question  of  agitation  and  popular  excitement ;  and  they  are  as  diverse  as  the 
varied  ingenuity  of  man,  and  the  aspect  of  such  questions  when  they  come 
before  the  public.  And  a  common  thing  it  is  to  say  that  the  law  is  odious  ; 
that  therefore  it  cannot  be  executed,  and  will  not  be  executed.  That  has 
always  been  said  by  those  who  do  not  mean  it  shall  be  executed  ;  not  by 
anybody  else.  They  assume  the  fact,  that  it  cannot  be  executed,  to  make 
that  true  which  they  wish  shall  turn  out  to  be  true.  They  wish  that  it 


52 

shall  not  be  executed,  and,  therefore,  announce  to  all  mankind  that  it  can 
not  be  executed. 

When  public  men,  and  the  conductors  of  newspapers  of  influence  and 
authority,  thus  deal  with  the  subject,  they  deal  unfairly  with  it.  Those 
who  have  types  at  command,  have  a  perfect  right  to  express  their  opinions  ; 
but  I  doubt  their  right  to  express  opinions,  as  facts.  I  doubt  whether  they 
have  a  right  to  say,  not  as  a  matter  of  opinion,  but  of  fact,  that  this  par 
ticular  law  is  so  odious,  here  and  elsewhere,  that  it  cannot  be  executed. 
That  only  proves  that  they  are  of  opinion  that  it  ought  not,  that  they  hope 
it  may  not,  be  executed.  They  do  not  gay,  "  See  if  any  wrong  is  inflicted 
on  anybody  by  it,  before  we  wage  war  upon  it ;  let  us  hope  to  find  in  its 
operation  no  wrong  or  injury  to  anybody.  Let  us  give  it  a  fair  experi 
ment."  Do  any  of  them  hold  that  language  ?  Not  one.  "  The  wish 
is  father  to  the  thought."  They  wish  that  it  may  not  be  executed, 
and  therefore  they  say  it  cannot  and  will  not  be  executed.  That 
is  one  of  the  modes  of  presenting  the  case  to  the  people  ;  and,  in  my 
opinion,  it  is  not  quite  a  fair  mode  of  doing  it.  There  are  other  forms 
and  modes  ;  and  I  might  omit  to  notice  the  blustering  Abolition  societies 
of  Boston  and  elsewhere,  as  unworthy  of  regard  ;  but  there  are  other  forms 
more  insidious,  and  equally  efficacious.  There  are  men  who  say,  when 
you  talk  of  amending  that  law,  that  they  hope  it  will  not  be  touched. 
You  talk  of  attempting  it,  and  they  dissuade  you.  They  say,  "  Let  it  re 
main  as  obnoxious  as  it  can  be,  and  so  much  the  sooner  it  will  disgust, 
and  be  detested  by,  the  whole  community." 

I  am  grieved  to  say  that  such  sentiments  have  been  avowed  by  those 
in  Massachusetts  who  ought  to  be  utterly  ashamed,  utterly  ashamed,  to 
utter  such  opinions.  For,  what  do  they  mean  ?  They  mean  to  make  the 
law  obnoxious  ;  so  obnoxious  that  it  shall  not  be  executed.  But  still  they 
suggest  no  other  law  ;  they  oppose  all  amendment ;  oppose  doing  anything 
that  shall  make  it  less  distasteful.  What  do  they  mean  ?  They  mean,  and 
they  know  it,  that  there  shall  exist  no  law  whatever  for  carrying  into  effect 
this  provision  of  the  Constitution  of  the  country,  if  they  can  prevent  it, 
let  the  consequences  be  what  they  may.  They  wish  to  strike  out  this 
constitutional  provision  ;  to  annul  it.  They  oppose  it  in  every  possible 
form  short  of  personal  resistance,  or  incurring  personal  danger  ;  and  to 
do  this,  they  say  the  worse  the  law  is  the  better.  They  say  we  have  now 
a  topic,  and  for  mercy's  sake  don't  amend  the  horrible  law  of  1850. 
(Laughter.)  Then,  again,  they  say,  "We  are  for  an  eternal  agitation 
and  discussion  of  this  question ;  the  people  cannot  be  bound  by  it. 
Every  member  of  Congress  has  the  right  to  move  the  repeal  of  this  as 
well  as  any  other  law."  Who  does  not  know  this,  gentlemen  ?  A  mem 
ber  must  act  according  to  his  own  discretion.  No  doubt  he  has  a  right 
to-morrow,  if  Congress  were  in  session,  to  move  a  repeal  of  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Law  ;  but  this  takes  with  it  another  fact. 

He  has  just  as  much  right  to  move  to  tear  down  the  Capitol,  until  one 
stone  shall  not  be  left  on  another  ;  just  as  much  right  to  move  to  disband 
the  army,  and  to  throw  the  ordnance  and  arms  into  the  sea.  He  has  just 
as  much  right  to  move  that  all  the  ships  of  war  of  the  United  States  shall  be 
collected  and  burned  ;  an  illumination  like  that  which  lit  up  the  walls  of 
ancient  Troy.  He  may  move  to  do  any  of  these  things.  The  question  is,  Is 
he  prudent,  wise  ;  a  real  friend  of  the  country,  or  adverse  to  it  ?  That  is  all. 


53 


And  a  greater  question  lies  behind :  Will  the  people  support  him  in  it  ? 
is  it  the  result  of  the  good  sense  of  the  Northern  people,  that  the  question 
shall  have  neither  rest  nor  quiet,  but  shall  be  constantly  kept  up  as  a  topic 
of  agitation?  I  cannot  decide  this  question  for  the  people,  but  leave 
them  to  decide  it  for  themselves.  And  now,  gentlemen,this  is  a  serious  ques 
tion,  whether  the  Constitution  can  be  maintained  in  part  and  not  in  whole  ? 
Whether  ^those  interested  in  the  preservation  of  one  part  of  it,  finding  their 
interests  in  that  particular  abandoned,  are  not  likely  enough,  according  to 
all  experience  of  human  feeling  and  human  conduct,  to  discard  that  portion 
which  was  introduced,  not  for  their  benefit,  but  for  the  benefit  of  others  ? 
That  is  the  question.  For  one,  I  confess,  I  do  not  see  any  reasonable  pros 
pect  of  maintaining  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  unless  we  main 
tain  it  as  a  whole  ;  impartially,  honorably, patriotically.  Gentlemen,  lam 
detaining  you  too  long  ;  but  allow  me  a  few  words  on  another  subject, 
by  way  of  illustration. 

The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  consists  in  a  series  of  mutual 
agreements  or  compromises,  one  thing  being  yielded  by  the  South,  another 
by  the  North  ;  the  general  mind  having  been  brought  together,  and  the 
whole  agreed  to,  as  I  have  said,  as  a  series  of  compromises  constituting  one 
whole.  Well,  gentlemen,  who  does  not  see  that  ?  Had  the  North 
no  particular  interest  to  be  regarded  and  protected  ?  Had  the  North 
no  peculiar  interest  of  its  own  ?  Was  nothing  yielded  by  the 
South  to  the  North  ?  Gentlemen,  you  are  proud  citizens  of  a 
great  commercial  State.  You  know  that  New  York  ships  float  over 
the  whole  world,  and  bring  abundance  of  riches  to  your  own  shores.  You 
know  that  this  is  the  result  of  the  commercial  policy  of  the  United  States, 
and  of  the  commercial  power  vested  in  Congress  by  the  Constitution.  And 
how  was  this  commerce  established  ?  by  what  constitutional  provisions, 
and  for  whose  benefit  ?  The  South  was  never  a  commercial  country.  The 
plantation  States  were  never  commercial.  Their  interest  always  was,  as 
they  thought,  what  they  think  it  to  be  now,  free  trade,  the  unrestricted 
admission  of  foreigners  in  competition  in  all  branches  of  business  with  our 
own  people.  But  what  did  they  do  ?  They  agreed  to  form  a  Govern 
ment  that  should  regulate  commerce  according  to  the  wants  and  wishes  of 
the  Northern  States,  and  when  the  Constitution  went  into  operation,  a  com 
mercial  system  was  actually  established,  on  which  has  risen  up  the  whole 
glory  of  New  York  and  New  England.  (Applause.) 

Well,  what  did  Congress  do  under  a  Northern  lead  with  Southern  acqui 
escence  ?  What  did  it  do  ?  It  protected  the  commerce  of  New-York 
and  the  Eastern  States,  first,  by  a  preference,  by  way  of  tonnage  duties, 
and  that  higher  tonnage  on  foreign  ships  has  never  been  surrendered  to 
this  day,  but  in  consideration  of  a  just  equivalent ;  so  in  that  respect,  with 
out  grudging  or  complaint  on  the  part  of  the  South,  but  generously  and 
fairly,  not  by  way  of  concession,  but  in  the  true  spirit  of  the  Constitution, 
the  commerce  of  New  York  was,  and  the  New  England  States  were,  pro 
tected  by  the  provision  of  the  Constitution  to  which  I  have  referred.  But 
that  is  not  all. 

Friends  !  Fellow-citizens  !  Men  of  New  York  !  Does  this  country 
not  now  extend  from  Maine  to  Mexico,  and  beyond  ?  and  have  we  not  a 
State  beyond  Cape  Horn,  belonging  nevertheless  to  us  as  part  of  our  com 
mercial  system  ?  And  what  does  New  York  enjoy  ?  What  do  Massa- 


54 

chusetts  and  Maine  enjoy  ?  They  enjoy  an  exclusive  right  of  carrying  on 
the  coasting  trade  from  State  to  State,  on  the  Atlantic  and  around  Cape 
Horn  to  the  Pacific.  And  that  is  a  most  highly  important  branch  of  busi 
ness,  and  source  of  wealth  and  emolument,  of  comfort  and  good  living. 
Every  man  must  know  this,  who  is  not  blinded  by  passion  or  fanatacism.  It 
is  this  exclusive  right  to  the  coasting  trade  which  the  Northern  States 
possess,  which  was  granted  to  them,  which  they  have  ever  held,  and  which, 
up  to  this  day,  there  has  been  no  attempt  to  rescue  from  them  ;  it  is  this 
which  has  employed  so  much  tonnage  and  so  many  men,  and  given 
support  to  so  many  thousands  of  our  fellow-citizens.  Now,  what  would 
you  say  in  this  day  of  the  prevalence  of  notions  of  free  trade  ;  what 
would  you  say,  if  the  South  and  the  West  were  to  join  together  to  repeal 
this  law  ?  And  they  have  the  votes  to  do  it  to-morrow.  What  would  you 
say  if  they  should  join  hands  and  say  that  these  men  of  the  North  and 
New  England,  who  put  this  slight  on  our  interests,  shall  enjoy  this  exclu 
sive  privilege  no  longer  ?  That  they  will  throw  it  all  open,  and  invite  the 
Dane,  the  Swede,  the  Hamburger,  and  all  the  commercial  nations  of  Eu 
rope  who  can  carry  cheaper,  to  come  in  and  carry  goods  from  New  York 
coastwise  on  the  Atlantic,  and  to  California  on  the  Pacific  ?  What  do 
you  say  to  that  ? 

Now,  gentlemen,  these  ideas  have  been  a  thousand  times  suggested, 
perhaps,  but  if  there  is  anything  new  in  them,  I  hope  it  may  be  regarded. 
But  what  was  said  in  Syracuse  and  Boston  ;  it  was  this :  "  You  set  up 
profit  against  conscience  ;  you  set  up  the  means  of  living  j  we  go  for  con 
science."  (Laughter.)  That  is  a  flight  of  fanaticism.  All  I  have  to 
answer  is,  that  if  what  we  propose  is  right,  fair,  just,  and  stands  well  with 
a  conscience  not  enlightened  with  those  high  flights  of  fancy,  it  is  none 
the  worse  for  being  profitable  ;  and  that  it  does  not  make  a  thing  bad  which 
is  good  in  itself,  that  you  and  I  can  live  on  it,  and  our  children  be  sup 
ported  and  educated  by  it.  If  the  compact  of  the  Constitution  is  fair, 
and  was  fairly  entered  into,  it  is  none  the  worse  one  should  think,  for  its 
having  been  found  useful.  (Renewed  applause.)  Gentlemen,  I  believe, 
in  Cromwell's  time — for  I  am  not  very  fresh  in  my  recollections  of  that 
historic  period  ;  I  have  had  more  to  do  with  other  things  than  some  of  you 
younger  men  that  love  to  look  into  the  instructive  history  of  that  age,  but 
I  think  it  was  in  Cromwell's  time,  that  there  sprang  up  a  race  of  saints  who 
called  themselves  "  fifth  monarchy  men  ;"  and  a  happy,  felicitous,  glorious 
people  they  were  ;  for  they  had  practised  so  many  virtues,  they  were  so  en 
lightened,  so  perfect,  that  they  got  to  be,  in  the  language  of  that  day, "  above 
ordinances."  That  is  the  higher  law  of  this  day  exactly.  (Laughter.) 
Our  higher  law  is  but  the  old  doctrine  of  the  fifth  monarchy  men,  of  Crom 
well's  time,  revived.  They  were  above  ordinances,  walked  about  firm 
and  spruce,  self-satisfied,  thankful  to  God  that  they  were  not  as  other  men, 
but  had  attained  so  far  to  salvation  as  to  be  "  above  all  necessity  of  res 
traint  or  control,  civil  or  religious."  (Renewed  laughter.) 

G-entlemen,  we  live  under  a  Constitution.  It  has  made  us  what  we  are. 
What  has  carried  the  American  flag  all  over  the  world  ?  What  has  con 
stituted  that  unit  of  commerce,  that  wherever  the  stars  and  stripes  are 
seen,  they  signify  that  it  is  America  and  united  America  ?  What  is  it 
now  that  represents  us  so  respectably  all  over  Europe  ?  in  London  at  this 
moment,  and  all  over  the  world  ?  What  is  it  but  the  result  of  those  com- 


55 


mercial  regulations  which  united  us  all  together,  and  made  our  commerce 
the  same  commerce  ;  which  made  all  the  States,  New  York,  Massachusetts' 
feputh  Carolina,  m  the  aspect  of  our  foreign  relations,  the  same  country' 
without  division,  distinction,  or  separation  ?  Now,  gentlemen,  this  was  the 
original  design  of  the  Constitution.  We,  in  our  day,  must  see  to  it  and  it 
will  be  equally  incumbent  on  you,  my  young  friends  of  Albany,  to  see  that 
while  you  live  this  spirit  is  made  to  pervade  the  whole  administration  of  the 
Government :  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  to  keep  us  united  to 
keep  flowing  in  our  hearts  a  fraternal  feeling,  must  be  administered  in  the 
spirit  in  which  it  was  framed.  And  if  I  were  to  exhibit  the  spirit  of  the 
Constitution  in  its  living,  speaking,  animated  form,  I  would  refer  always 
always,  to  the  administration  of  the  first  President,  George  Washington' 
(Vehement  cheering.)  And  if  I  were  now  to  describe  a  patriot 
President,  I  would  draw  his  master-strokes  and  copy  his  design  ;  I  would 
present  his  picture  before  me  as  a  constant  study ;  I  would  present 
his  policy,  alike  liberal,  just,  narrowed  down  to  no  sectional  interests, 
bound  to  no  personal  objects,  held  to  no  locality,  but  broad,  and  generous' 
and  open,  as  expansive  as  the  air  which  is  wafted  by  the  winds  of  heaven 
from  one  part  of  the  country  to  another.  (Cheers.) 

^  I  would  draw  a  picture  of  his  foreign  policy,  just,  steady,  stately,  but 
withal  proud,  and  lofty,  and  glorious.     No  man  could  say  in  his  day  that 
the  broad  escutcheon  of  the  honor  of  the  Union  could  receive  injury  or 
damage,  or  even  contumely  or  disrespect,  with  impunity.  His  own  charac 
ter  gave  character  to  the  foreign  relations  of  the  country.  He  upheld  every 
interest  of  the  United  States  in  even  the  proudest  nations  of  Europe,  and 
while  resolutely  just,  he  was  resolutely  determined  that  no  plume  in  the  hon 
or  of  the  country  should  ever  be  defaced  or  taken  from  its  proper  position  by 
any  power   on   earth.     Washington  was  cautious  and  prudent ;  no  self- 
seeker  ;  giving  information  to  Congress  according  to  the  Constitution,  on 
all  questions,  when  necessary,  with  fairness  and  frankness,  claiming  no 
thing  for  himself,  exercising  his  own  rights,  and  preserving  the  dignity  of 
his  station,  but  taking  especial  care  to  execute  the  laws  as  a  paramount 
duty,  and  in   such  manner  as   to  give  satisfaction  to  all  just  and  rea 
sonable   men.      And    it   was   always   remarked   of    his   administration, 
that  he  filled  the  courts  of  justice  with   the  most  spotless  integrity,  the 
highest  talent,  and  the  purest  virtue ;    and  hence  it  became  a  common 
saying,  running  through  all  classes  of  society,  that  our  great  security  is  in 
the  learning  and  integrity  of  the  judicial  tribunals.     This  high  character 
they  justly  possessed,  and  continue  to  possess  in  an  eminent  degree  from 
the  impress  which  Washington  stamped  on  these  tribunals  at  their  first 
organization. 

Gentlemen,  a  patriot  President  of  the  United  States  is  the  guardian, 
the  protector,  the  friend  of  every  citizen  in  them.  He  should  be,  and  he 
is,  no  man's  persecutor,  no  man's  enemy,  but  the  supporter  and  the  protector 
of  all  and  every  citizen,  so  far  as  such  support  and  protection  depend  on  his 
faithful  execution  of  the  laws.  But  there  is  especially  one  great  idea  which 
Washington  presents,  and  which  governed  him,  and  which  should  govern 
every  man  in  high  office,  who  means  to  resemble  Washington  :  that  is  the 
duty  of  preserving  the  government  itself,  of  suffering,  so  far  as  depends  on 
him,  no  one  branch  to  interfere  with  another,  and  no  power  to  be  assumed 
not  belonging  to  each,  and  none  abandoned  which  pertains  to  each  ;  but  to 


56 

preserve  it  and  carry  it  on  unharmed  for  the  benefit  of  the  present  and 
future  generations. 

Gentlemen,  a  wise  and  prudent  shipmaster  makes  it  his  first  duty  to 
preserve  the  vessel  which  carries  him,  and  his  passengers,  and  all  that  is 
committed  to  his  charge  ;  to  keep  her  afloat,  to  conduct  her  to  her  destined 
port  with  entire  security  of  property  and  life  ;  that  is  his  first  object,  and 
that  should  be  the  object,  and  is,  of  every  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  United 
States,  who  has  a  proper  appreciation  of  his  duty.  His  his  first  and  high 
est  duty  is  to  preserve  the  Constitution  which  bears  him,  which  sustains  the 
government,  without  which  everything  goes  to  the  bottom ;  to  preserve 
that,  and  keep  it,  with  the  utmost  of  his  ability  and  foresight,  off  the 
rocks  and  shoals,  and  away  from  the  quick-sands  ;  to  accomplish  this  great 
end,  he  exercises  the  caution  of  the  experienced  navigator.  He  suffers 
nothing  to  betray  his  watchfulness,  or  to  draw  him  aside  from  the  great 
interest  committed  to  his  care,  but  is  always  awake,  always  solicitous, 
always  anxious,  for  the  safety  of  the  ship  which  is  to  carry  him  through 
the  stormy  seas. 

"  Though  pleased  to  see  the  dolphins  play, 
He  minds  his  compass  and  his  way  ; 
And  oft  he  throws  the  wary  lead, 
To  see  what  dangers  may  be  hid, 
At  helm  he  makes  his  reason  sit ; 
His  crew  of  passions  all  submit. 
Thus,  thus  he  steers  his  barque  and  sails 
On  upright  keel,  to  meet  the  gales !" 

Now,  gentlemen,  a  patriot  President,  acting  from  the  impulses  of  this 
high  and  honorable  purpose,  may  reach  what  Washington  reached.  He 
may  contribute  to  raise  high  the  public  prosperity,  to  help  to  fill  up  the 
measure  of  his  country's  glory  and  renown  ;  and  he  may  be  able  to  find 
a  rich  reward  in  the  thankfulness  of  the  people, 

"  And  read  his  history  in  a  nation's  eyes." 


Lithomount 
Pamphlet 

Binder 
Gaylord  Bros. 

Makers 

Stockton,  Calif. 
PAT.  M  21.  1908 


